It's a Technician Thing
by kivce
Summary: Flight. Gear. Mechanics. Conflicting teams. Their worlds are linked by these similarities. Tails' workshop is their refuge from air combat and faking a hatred that's not really there. [drabble]
1. trade

» **xxdomino says** «

**x **so I shouldn't really be starting another fanfiction, but this plot bunny wouldn't stop molesting me!

**x **Tails has always been my favourite character and Wave is by far my favourite person to pair him up with. Cream is so… young and Cosmo is so… I don't know. I hate her.

**x **mechanic jargon in this fic is half made up because Extreme Gear isn't real, however much I wish it to be.

**x **Tails/12 and Wave/16 + I know Mobians don't have to wear clothes but I want them too okay? They're more fun to drawn and write like that.

**x **takes place after _Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity_, because I'm not going to buy and XBOX Kinetic just because I want _Free Riders_.

**x **all elements of Sonic the Hedgehog belong to Sega. Lyrics of _Jasey Rae_ belong to All Time Low.

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_Trade_

Thinking back on it now, she wouldn't be able to pinpoint the exact moment when their stupid little exchanges started to develop into something more.

She'd run by him before races, insult his work, remind him of how badly he was going to loose, anger him about his height, his age, his maturity levels, whatever she could do to psyche him out so that he'd be to angry to focus on the competition properly.

Thing is; Tails isn't anything like Sonic or Knuckles, neither was he the naïve little thing that had started creating Extreme Gear to keep up with his older and less mature friends. Tails is… he's so much older than his voice, his facial features or his large glassy blue eyes. Her mean, snarky comments phased through him and he'd return her scowl with a brazen grin and a reply catty enough to put Sonic to shame.

She'd heard of what he was like before; a weak naïve little cry baby. Compared to what he was now she would have never thought that they were the same person.

Tails wasn't who you would think of if you were trying to define a normal twelve year old kid.

She _could _however remember when she had noticed the change in their relationship.

She knew that she could be arrested for such an act; sneaking into another person's workshop. She knew how it would feel because she could empathise with Tails, she was a mechanic too and someone charging into her workshop would feel like she had been violated herself. Her gear shed was the equivalent of the artist's studio, the author's library, the scientist's lab. _But _in her defence, she hadn't _barged _in; she'd knocked quietly three times and waited for little over fifteen minutes before she decided to walk in through the opened door.

What she happened upon was something resembling half a teenager's room; band posters, soda cans, unmade bed, littering papers and abused game consoles behinds a half drawn curtain in a dark corner. On the other side was a garage that looked very close to professional, had the small little personal details not littered the working space.

She could see what he had been working on on a nearby bench scattered sprockets splayed out across the surface like he had gotten up abruptly to do something else. Between the two spaces lay a spiral staircase to which the room above was not visible from her vantage point. She ran her hand across the gear had had been focusing on; a new air board, much like the ones that had gone out of fashion once gravity control stormed it's way onto the Air Gear scene. It was dirty with grease but the design was slick and beautiful with planes of incredible craftsmanship beyond the skill of a normal twelve year old.

Beside the piece of mastery was a roughly torn bar of dark mint chocolate with four and a half missing pieces. The chocolate was next to what looked like a lukewarm cup of hot chocolate, but when its scent reached her beak she distinguished it as coffee. What kind of kid eats _dark _mint chocolate and coffee?

"_Don't make this easy. I want you to mean it. Jasey… say you'll mean it. You're dressed to kill, I'm calling you out…" _she distinguished the raspy teenaged voice as soon as the lyrics drifted down the stairs. Jumping away from the gear she watched with mild amusement as Tail's danced down the stairs, eyes closed and a pair of headphones rendering him oblivious to the world outside the drum beats. He almost jumped out of his skin when he opened his eyes to see Wave leaning over his gear bench with a slight smile curving her beak.

"Wave!" he exclaimed in alarm, eyes widening in shock as he yanked down his headphones so that they hung around his neck.

She jerked her head in the direction of the entrance, "Am I intruding? The door was open and-"

"No!" he smiled reassuringly, but quickly composed himself into a slight frown, "It's open for friends that like to visit oft… We're enemies, what are you doing here?"

She sighed a little, knowing that convincing him, despite his apparent lack of naivety, was going to be far easier that speaking to Knuckles or Sonic.

"So there's a certain part that the Black Market seems to be missing lately…" she knew that not all of Tails' parts were as squeaky clean as they seemed to be, "and I was wondering if you had one."

"What is it?"

"A special kind of ignition coil with primary winding made from bent speed ring and iron core made from synthesised Mobian silver," she was actually very thankful there was someone in the world that wasn't Eggman that would actually get what she was saying.

"Uh uh, no way, I was _ripped off_ for that part because I didn't dabble in as much alchemy as one would like. I paid three thousand ring for wire that was only worth nine hundred."

"Yeah, alchemy's a bitch but… I have a chaos emerald."

He exhaled through his nose and opened a drawer, fishing out the desired cylinder and tossing it to her when she handed over the purple jewel.

She nodded her thanks, noting how he seemed to lament over loosing the part. He made an immature little noise, blowing air through lips pressed together before jerking his head towards the door. The swallow got the message and started heading towards the garage entrance, but before she was out she leant across the door frame and said, "Hey…"

He had his fingertips over his goggles about ready to pull them down when he turned his head towards her, "What kind of twelve year old drinks coffee? If I was blind I would've thought you were forty or sumthing."

She spied the slight traces of a smile along his muzzle before he pulled the goggles over his eyes, "Shut up and get lost Wave."

Hmm… interesting.

Ask for a gear part from Sonic and he would have passed it off as a joke. Ask for one from Knuckles and he would have accused them of lying, deceiving and thrown them out.

Maybe she'd have to drop by Tail's workshop more often.

Little did she know the next week she'd find herself making excuses to see the little fox's garage, if just to see he was like behind the Air Gear scene.

She'd noticed when she overheard Sonic asking Tails where the new part of his board had gone; Tails had said that he'd lost it. When Jet asked her where she had acquired the new trinket for his board, she'd said she found it.

They were lying for each other; their relationship had changed.

* * *

><p><strong>xxdomino; <strong>The idea was a lot prettier in my head. It sounds kind of different. I might change it when I get the chance. I hate introductory chapters. It was just meant to drabble about the way Wave and Tails' relationship changed from enemies to friends, and maybe even more than that, I don't know. Yeah, I think I will change it later... maybe. Thoughts?


	2. running jokes

» **xxdomino says** «

**x **okay, so that's a way better response than I thought I would receive when I started this so thanks to; **The Guy in the Background**, **Fic Fan 421**and **Pirony **for reviewing and **shadow zombie **for adding _It's a Technician Thing_ to her Favourites. These made me really happy.

_To Fic Fan 421: _Thank you for recommending this, I'll definitely watch the clips and watch their interaction. That's very considerate of you for thinking that far.

**x **so I was thinking this is pretty easy to write, low maintenance, minimal editing story, very little plot, I might update frequently. If the passion doesn't disappear within a week.

**x **warning; characters act like _major _OOC, might want to get used to that since Tails' personality is already so different as it is.

**x **most of these one shots aren't in chronological order.

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_Running Jokes_

Blink. Blink. One second he had been tending to a customer and suddenly he felt uncomfortable, like someone had been staring at his back. Sure enough, there she was, leaning against the doorway with her feathers flowing behind her, freshly wind blown from the way here.

Tails scrubbed his fringe away from his eyes and looked up to the older canine Mobian nodding and gently murmuring, "Your gear will be done by Wednesday."

The canine brushed shoulders with Wave before she strolled in like she owned the place, raising a brow Tails pulled of his goggles and leant against his bench, "Did'ja want something?"

"I'm sorry, I wasn't aware I needed an invitation to visit a mechanic shop," she replied, ripping of her sun glasses and walking a little closer to the bench.

"Customers often have a reason, and you never _let _me touch your boards, remember?" he replied, eyes narrowing. He'd been young and naïve then, but he'd still been hurt by her abject refusal the last time they had entered a grand prix.

"I need entertainment; Jet's racing Sonic and Storm's… being Storm. I have no friends in this region."

"And you come to the enemy?" he scoffed lightly, smiling a bit, "How romantic."

"I wanted to see what a local mechanic does in his spare time, surely there's something you do when you're not tagging along behind Sonic and Knuckles and fixing things?"

"Ugh…" there were honestly many things he did in his spare time when Eggman wasn't bothering them, but none were coming to mind right now. Wave might have been a rival, but she wasn't the enemy, and he honestly respected her skills. If only she had been a little bit nicer when they were younger, maybe then he wouldn't harbour such contemptuous feelings for the violet avian.

"Wow, that sounds _thrilling _really," she turned around and for a moment Tails felt regret, "Maybe I should have gone somewhere else."

"Um… I have C.O.D." he shrugged.

"That'll do."

**x**

It was 2:00am and Tails hadn't said a word since they'd started playing hours ago. He had a bad feeling he was giving off the impression that he didn't want her here. She'd tried to make conversation too, about how they didn't have many games on their ark and no one wanted to play with her unless the other two were absolutely shit-faced. He'd replied with affirmative grunts that sounded disinterested.

She'd left a little while ago and returned with a cup of coffee for each of them.

"So I heard some gossip…"

Another grunt, he raised his hand from the controller to rub at his eyes.

"As to why you don't eat chocolate."

"If you heard anything from Cream, it's a lie. She looks all innocent and stuff… but the crap that Amy teaches her… God," he moaned.

"Sonic was speaking about why you don't eat milk chocolate."

The fox's eyes narrowed as he drank the contents, "I don't turn into some uncontrollable sex fiend."

"No, but apparently, you do turn into a massive potty mouth."

"Well you're never going to find out."

She grinned, smirking as she turned back to the screen.

"_FUCK!"_

The typical shoot the zombie game and Tails had become a raging maniac, he was an absolute mess of 'Oh God, oh God, oh God, rebuild the barriers! Quick!' and 'Hurry up, it's one knife one kill! Get the nuke! Use the bloody nuke, Wave!' and let's not forget the, 'God damn dogs, acting like fuckin' whores! I need the AK47 before the-_fuck!_'

She found herself laughing and staring at the fox in shock, this was absolutely _nothing _like he acted on the track. He was constantly pushing her and swearing and making comments about her mother. Frankly she was too surprised to care.

**x **

Sonic wandered into the garage at around 7 the next morning, to be barreled down to the floor and assaulted with wide blue eyes, "Sonic! You blue dishrag! Do you know how incredibly _horny_ I am right now?"

The blue hedgehog pushed Tails off and sat up, watching as the kitsune bounced around the room, "Where the fuck did you get chocolate at this hour?"

Wave rolled her neck and got out of the games room, watching Sonic being barreled down again.

"What the fuck are you doing here? This," Sonic hissed, "is all _your_ fault."

Wave laughed, "Oh _entirely._"

"Sonic! I'm about to reverse the gravital polarity of the toaster!" Tails yelled before the obstructive instrument abruptly slammed into Sonic's head, knocking the Blue Blur unconscious.

"Shit." Wave looked around, estimating how long it would take to reach the door, "Maybe I shouldn't have put the chocolate in his coffee."

"Hey Wave! I just figured out what a PENIS is for!"

**x **

Tails came to seven hours later to come into contact with a highly amused swallow.

"You found an interesting new use for spaghetti last night!" she laughed maniacally.

The fox groaned and his head slammed against his desk once more.

* * *

><p><strong>xxdomino; <strong>I hate ice breakers. I laugh at you looking for a quality story. This drabble series is filled to the brim with absolute crap.


	3. pre race jitters

» **xxdomino says** «

**x **gosh people, two chapters and this is already the best reception I've had in months, is there nothing decent to read nowadays? lol.

Uber happy thanks to **The Guy in the Background**, **Pirony**, **Deer Salt** and **FicFan421** for reviewing! Seriously, your little praises make me want to continue this more!

Thanks to **edvis93**, **Pirony** and **SirDeathShriek **for adding _It's a Technician Thing_ to their Favourites!

Thanks to **Hakimu **and **Eidorian999 **for adding _It's a Technician Thing_ to their Story Alert!

_FicFan421- _Thank you! It warms my heart to hear that :)

**x **dudes, I wanted to know if you guys want decent cameo's for characters that aren't in the Sonic Riders storyline like Silver and Blaze.

**x **if none of you have ventured to my page, here's a reason to! There's a link at the bottom of my bio with a picture to how I depict Tails in this series. If you're curious you should go have a squiz, it was really fun to draw.

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_Pre Race Jitters_

It was a sunny day by Green Cave when the Grand Prix's semi-finalists gathered for a mock race before the official competition. Tails was fixing up a few last minute problems with his board; a loose shock absorber, last second turbine check, the usual. He was sitting, cross legged, near the starting line next to his tool box as he tinkered away. Happy and warmed by the sun filtering in through the leaves.

He rolled his wrist and wiped his dirtied gray gloves along his jeans, something he knew Amy would sooner chastise him about. She was the one that liked to use him as a fashion doll whenever she got the chance. Since Tails had hit puberty it had been getting harder and harder to get a hold of him, something that the fox was immensely proud over. He now understood why Sonic ran away from the female hedgehog all the time. He had to commend her for her persistence though, he was by far easier to get a hold of that Sonic was.

He'd just finished up the repairs, looking at his communicator to find that he still had fifteen minutes left. This was the worst part; the waiting.

"Hey Pad Foot."

"What? 'Pad Foot'?" Tails turned around to find Wave grinning at him, "What the hell is that?"

"Foxes? Padded feet? You know, for a genius you're awfully stupid."

He narrowed his eyes and grunted, turning away from the avian, "'Tails' is already a nickname, why would I need another one?"

"It is?" she asked, true curiosity in her eyes.

It occurred to him that none of the Babylon Rouges knew his actual name; he assumed she would have run some kind of background check on them. Guess they had better things to do than be as over analysing as someone like Eggman.

"My real name is Miles."

"Oh," she shrugged smiling, "just felt like calling you Pad Foot. It's so ironic you know? Canine feet, associated with really silent type animals. And then here you come along yapping with a voice so high you could've been mistaken for a girl."

He smirked playfully, "_This _coming from a _girl_ that acts like a _guy? _Oh Wave, you wound me so."

She growled lightly, probably a little miffed that he didn't become flustered and angry as he use to, "Had any _chocolate_ recently?"

"Oh no," he placed a hand to his chest, probably dirtying up his favourite gray scale shirt, "definitely not until I figure out why there was one of Amy's… ahem… undergarments in the blender."

They both shuddered, breaking into nervous laughter a moment later. They looked around, one of the track robots had appeared at the side of the starting line that Wave had come from but apart from that they were alone.

"So…"

Tails shoved his toolbox to the side of the tracks so it wouldn't get damaged, turning back to the swallow with curiosity.

"Yeah?"

She paused a moment, drumming her fingers along her board before speaking, "Jet and Storm are leaving me alone and… You know what? Forget it Shorty."

He watched the Avian get up and go to a different part of the starting track, looking a little embarrassed with herself. He really wouldn't have minded her over, so he paced over to her quietly with a rather disarming smile on his face. One thing that irked him sometimes was that he still attained this natural 'innocence' about him.

"Hey Wave, I needed to test out some my prototypes at home, and… there's like eight of them and taking them through my route is going to take forever," he hinted, elbowing her softly.

There was a suspicious glimmer in Wave's eyes, a small little hope hidden under dark, thick lashes, "So you _won't _accuse me of barging in this time?"

His eyebrows furrowed together, but he smiled shyly, "Of course."

"I'd-"

Wave was abruptly pushed aside, her face full of green feathers, "What are you doing Wave? Fraternising with the enemy?"

The swallow rolled her eyes, willing away a light flush before she nodded her head in Tails direction, "I'd like that."

"Like what?" Sonic asked, seemingly appearing out of nowhere.

"Nothing!" Tails replied, just as flustered.

Sonic snorted mouthing 'Date' under his breath.

Tails growled and tripped Sonic up before the countdown began. His heart lifted when he heard Wave laugh.

* * *

><p><strong>x <strong>there's a shortage of orange juice in my house. Utterly random I know. What did you guys think? This is getting closer to the original idea I had for the story, some kind of shy/awkward friendship.**  
><strong>


	4. curious observation

» **xxdomino says** «

**x **alrighty, to quench some curious minds; this story initially had no major goal, but now it does. It's nothing major like an epic new quest, because I never had anything in mind for this drabble series in the first place. If this gets enough reviewers then I'd be willing to start an all new story with a major plot and fighting and stuff but that's after I finish my other huge work. Pfft, I'm only fifteen. So yeah, the main plot is pretty much Tails and Wave getting their relationship accepted by the public, yaddigg?

**x **might not update this for a little while. Important Kingdom Hearts dates to attend to, ya know?

**x **there's another fanart lurking somewhere on my profile. Have a look! It will make me happy.

Mega thanks to **Pirony**, **Hakimu**, **FicFan421**, **Exploder** and **The Guy in the Background **for reviewing the last chapter.

_FicFan421- _Don't worry, it has a kind of plot thing now, but it wasn't originally supposed to have a main goal in the first place. Thanks for commenting anyway :)

**x **kinda Jet/Wave focused chapter.

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_Curious Observation_

"Wave?" the green hawk asked her as his mechanic flitted by his room deep into the sleeping hours aboard their ark.

"Yeah?" she replied, a slight smile pulling at her beak, her eyes were joyful and sparkling in all their baby blue wonder. He hadn't seen her this happy in a while.

"Where were you?" she was skeptical to his tone of voice, it was soft and calm, if not a little raspy. Puberty had been a bitch to him, it was finally starting to smooth out now that he was getting older.

"Nowhere," she replied instantly, making him suspicious.

"Oh… alright then," he turned away from her momentarily, thinking of something to say and a little hurt that she didn't want to confide in him this time, "be up early, we've got another race with Sonic tomorrow."

"Oh?" her smile widened, "Okay then. Goodnight Jet."

"Goodnight… Wave."

**x**

Jet leant against a wall watching Wave make her way towards Sonic's mechanic, maybe it was to belittle him and make him feel inferior again. Storm joined him a moment later as Wave actually started to talk to the little fox.

"Whatcha' up to boss?" the albatross asked, confused as to why his leader was acting so quiet.

"Have you noticed that Wave's been acting differently?" Jet asked, casting curious eyes in Storm's direction. The large bird shrugged.

"Seems to be actin' the way she always has."

"Really?" he asked, suddenly disinterested in Storm's opinion.

He turned his attention back to Wave, their conversation was out of range but they were taking friendly jibes at each other, the insults-judging from their expressions-were kept to a minimum, and she was _genuinely _laughing. It wasn't her kind of mocking trill that he had memorised as Wave's defense mechanism; Tails had actually made her _laugh. _

Jet had had enough. Pushing off the wall he strode over to the swallow and pushed her aside, raising his voice in pitch, "What are you doing Wave? Fraternising with the enemy?"

He scoffed in a mocking manner when she rolled her eyes and turned back to Tails, turning more gentle and kind. Jet rubbed a hand over his beak, this was worrying.

**x**

She returned late the next day too, steps so light and bouncy that she was practically _skipping. _

"Have fun… wherever you were at?" he asked when she passed the lounge that night.

"Mhmm, how was your heist?"

"It went okay," he replied immediately, using her exact same tactic against her.

Wave scratched lightly at her neck, "What do you _really_ want to ask me Jet?"

"I don't want you getting friendly with that fox," he stated abruptly, eyes and voice going rough and cold.

The mechanic paused for a second in shock, "What are you talking about?"

"Tails. Hatred is the best fuel to utterly annihilate them in battle." His words are curt and to the point, he has never been anything else.

Wave scoffed, "It's not _all_ about racing, Jet."

Jet mimicked her in an overly insulting way, "It's not _all _about flirting, Wave."

The female avian flipped him off and growled, "I am _not _flirting with Tails, and even if I was, it isn't your place to be telling me off."

"He's jailbait," Jet shrugged nonchalantly.

He was met with a vase to the face, the pain throbbing throughout his skull, "I don't even _think _of him like _that!_" she snarled, "Leave me alone," she stormed off, her footsteps echoing throughout their halls.

Every time Jet tried to pull her closer, she drifted farther and farther away.


	5. commission

**xxdomino; **Mega huge thanks to **The Guy In The Background** for keeping me entertained through my mass amounts of homework, and providing me with some scientific theories that helped create this chapter.

Thank you to **StealthTheBat** and **DarkSuperSonic** for adding _It's a Technician Thing_ to their favourites and story alerts!

Cookies to **FicFan421**, **Hakimu**, **The Guy In The Background**, **Deer Salt**, and **(annonymous) **for reviewing!

Enjoi.

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_Commission_

"Um, okay. And what is this?" the purple swallow gingerly picked up a small little ray gun, keeping the barrel aimed at the floor a few meters away.

"A heat stabilising laser, it was created for incinerating things, but I like to point it at Knuckles when he's being a dolt," Tails lips curved into an amused smile, pulling out a screw driver and unhinging the panel of a broken piece of gear. Apparently this one liked to run of air about halfway through the race, so either the air containment tank was leaking or the inverse kinetics had been dented so badly that something important like a turbine or a puffer jet was broken. God damned aerodynamics; they were so much more expensive than motor vehicles.

"That's amazing! I tend to avoid technology making things hotter because it generally just fucks up the engine."

"That's true, hot air has since been over ruled unless you're trying to recreate a balloon or a blimp or something, but didn't you experiment with that kind of stuff when you were little?" the smaller fox asked, wiping dust off his acid wash jeans and hauling his foot off the ground and tucking it underneath his other leg, ignoring the irritating screech of Converse leather on the smooth cement of his garage.

"Of course. It was probably the first experiment my grandfather taught me," she turned to the side and smiled affectionately.

"You seem to really admire your grandfather," he noted, furrowing his eyebrows when Wave's expression saddened, her eyelids drooping as her body turned away. The air seemed foggy and thick with tension, draping in front of them like soggy blankets before two sets of reverberating footsteps were heard at the door.

"Ooh Foxy!"

Tails banged his head into a nearby stack of books on the Kutta–Joukowski Theorem. Derivations and heuristic arguments weren't going to save him from the embarrassment Rouge liked to put him through. The yellow fox slammed his hands onto the bench and raised his head yelling, "Stop calling me that!"

To his complete embarrassment, Tails found himself face to chest with Shadow the hedgehog. Looking as menacing as ever, the black rider tilted his head to look down at the surprised fox, who recoiled instantly and backed away from the brooding figure, tilting back the chair as he did so. A little too far in fact, so much so that the back of his head came into contact with Rouge's prominent physique. It was far too late to escape, he realised, as he was suddenly swept up into her arms, turned 'round, and hugged so tightly into her breasts that he forgot to breath. He flailed wildly, still a little weaker than the bat even after years of fighting.

After he pushes himself out of her grasp, he notices that Wave is laughing behind her hand, so he growls at her for it.

"Strange, seeing you here Birdie," the voluptuous bad turned her attention towards Wave, who was now sitting cross legged on a cleared space on Tails work desk, "Are you here to laugh at Tails' complete and utter adorable-ness?" she laughed breathily, pinching the kitsune's cheek.

"Cut it out Rouge!" he growled, swatting away her hand.

"Aww, you're such a little darling!" He knew that he wasn't cute; Rouge was just letting on to annoy him. She tugged at one of her ears playfully.

"Leave it alone," he protested, and when she ran a hand along his tails, sending an uncomfortable shiver down his spine he jerked, "Fuck _off._"

This didn't deter her in the slightest, "Oh, you've become a handsome little man! Cussing now too!" Rouge calmed down a little after she had messed with Tails' fringe, "Don't do it too often, or you'll end up like Shadow."

"'Damn' is not a swear word," Shadow murmured, rolling his eyes as he dumped two sets of extreme gear onto a spare spot on Tails' workbench, "A commission fox. Rouge's gear needs the standard tune up and I need mine to have better cornering performance."

Tails fumbled around his desk for notes to put these orders down, "But-"

"To compensate for the turning ability you can change the maximum speed, I'm just so sick of kicking off walls."

"Yeah, alright." Tails murmured while scribbling the notes down in a messy scrawl, "I have a good idea on how to do that, probably disabling the wiring on the control panel to exceed maximum angle control… gravity proficiency…"

Wave pulled up her orange tinted sunglasses and pointed to Shadow's gear, "Or you could increase the air velocity re-routing to the puffer jets to increase the vertical power."

Tails snapped his fingers and grinned, "That'd work!"

Rouge eyed the swallow with a cautious eye, "You really know what you're doing, don't you?"

Wave looked up from Tail's notes and returned Rouge's calculating stare, "Maybe you've been relying on Tail's a little too long."

Shadow raised an eyebrow at her before pointing to his gear, "If you help him with the gear then I'll give you an equal share of the commission money."

"Deal!" she thrust her hand out to shake Shadow's hand.

"Hey! Don't I get a say in this?" Tails whined.

Shadow and Rouge shrugged, "I just want results," he said.

"Of course not." Wave jeered, reaching over to flick Tails' nose, "Besides, aren't you always whining about how you want help with your gear?"

He growled at her, rubbing at his irritated snout, "Yeah… whatever."

After the two members of Team Dark had left, the female technician giggled lightly, her sky blue eyes lighting up with an idea. Tails' groaned, "What?"

"I have a better nickname than 'Padfoot'; Kitty!"

The yellow fox's cheeks flushed uncomfortably, "Why's that?"

"Kitsune. Fox Gods. Kitties!"

Tails' leant his forehead into his palm and shook his head, "I am gonna _hate_ working with you."

* * *

><p><strong>xx.d; <strong>Yes, I _am _a Shadow/Rouge shipper. But I prefer their friendship dynamic. Thanks for reading.**  
><strong>


	6. gear shopping

**xxdomino; **Feels like it's lost its flair I think. Maybe the next one will be better.

Many thanks to **brave kid** and **VideoGameOtaku** for adding _It's a Technician Thing_ to their story alerts and favourites.

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_Gear Shopping_

"Aren't you a lovely little thing? Aren't you the prettiest little piece of fantastic this world has ever seen?" he cooed.

"Tails… stop it."

"God, I could just hug you, and kiss you, and love you forever."

"Seriously."

"You're such a beautiful PolyJet-BCF-2 TopAir engine jet aren't you?" the little fox pranced around and hugged the item to his chest.

"Tails!" the fox turned to Wave grinning like a maniac, she raised her gloved hands, "You're freaking me out."

"Isn't it just the most amazing piece of machinery you've ever seen?" he laughed manically. Ever since he had gotten the recent commission from Shadow and Rouge, he had been on cloud nine; now able to afford machinery he couldn't before. The thieves must have been doing pretty well for themselves if they could scrounge up that kind of coin.

Wave dragged her hand down her face and tried to suppress her laughter, nodding slightly. Tails might have been the most mature twelve-year-old she had ever encountered, but at the moment he was filling the metaphorical 'kid in a candy store' perfectly.

"Tails… you're freaking out the customers," she pushed the words out through giggles.

"Don't worry about it, I'm a regular here," he replied dismissively placing the hunk of metal onto the counter and telling them that he'd be back.

"How did your parents react when you told them you wanted to be a mechanic, or an electronic technician? They must have been pretty shocked," she murmured, immediately regretting the question when he saw Tails' eyes sadden just a fraction, his wide blue eyes becoming distant.

"Hey, do you want to help me look for a valve?" he asked in a tone that didn't match his happy expression. Wave nodded anyway, that expression was a cold realisation that their relationship was still very volatile and new. She should stay away from anything that might involve emotional baggage.

"I bet I can find it before you can."

"Bullshit."

"You're on!" he exclaimed, running off in a completely different direction to find them. They met up right before the valves and sprinted for the metal, colliding with such force that Tails was almost knocked off his feet. They were a tangle of limbs and childish hair-pulling as they scrambled to reach the shelf of valves.

"Ladies first, bitch!"

"You're the one that just called me a bitch, hoe," he laughed, ducking under and offending arm and grabbing the item before heading back to the cash register.

They came out of the store laughing like absolute loons, disregarding the strange looks that people were giving them.

"You freak out the general public on a normal basis?"

Tails rolled his eyes, "What do you _think _I do in my spare time?"

She snapped her fingers, "I knew it! _That's _why you're so goddamn weird!"


	7. lingo

**xxdomino; **Guess what I just realised? Tails and Wave's relationship turning romantic wouldn't be that much of a jump considering the fact that Archie's Tails _is _into older women; Fiona Fox, Mina Mongoose (I'm dismissing Cosmo because I hate her) and he's probably had a crush on Rouge at one point. *Puffs* Sexy, well, onto the story.

**[EDIT] **Don't worry, I fixed the lingo so that it now makes sense. Cheerio!

Enjoi.

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_Lingo_

Knuckles and Sonic were eating chips while playing Tails' PS3 while the fox and the swallow worked on Knuckles' bike; there was something wrong with its gear change. They didn't really mind the separation, Sonic and Knuckles were not used to associating with the Babylon Rogue that had been dropping by much more frequently as of late.

"Oh, oh! There was one time when I was seven where I screwed up the fuel component for a combustion engine and mixed up the apple juice with the engine oil!" Wave laughed lightly, handing Tails a wrench.

"D'aww, that's adorable! Oh, when I was five, I tried to re create a WWII radial engine out of cardboard and one of my friend's repetitive skipping instruments, one of those little windmill machines?"

"That's so cute!" she smiled, stretching her arms a little. It was like she'd taken permanent residence in that spot, she claimed it was so that she could swing her legs and hop off whenever she wanted to as well as poke at whatever he was creating. She pointed to the control panel on Knuckles' bike, "Oh, one time I was working with Jet's board, but he had pissed me off the day before so I re-wired the control access so that the directions changed the command buttons."

Tails doubled over in laughter, Knuckles and Sonic looked back at the two with worried expressions. The fox noticed his friends were looking at them strangely and decided to fill them in, "She changed the control panel on Jet's board so when he was forcing it forward and backwards, it turned backwards and forwards, when it was supposed to move left and right, it moved right and left."

The two nodded in understanding, but they didn't laugh. Maybe they still didn't get it. For some reason the mechanics found this funnier and they started to howl again, holding onto the edge of the table for support.

"Gods," Sonic muttered, rolling his eyes.

"What's his problem?" Wave asked, noting how Sonic wasn't wearing his usual large grin.

"He's experiencing problematic difficulties associated with a particular erectile deficiency of the bestial nature, poor girls," Tails clawed the air dismissively, fox canines poking out from underneath a cheeky smile.

"Oh you _didn't._" Wave looked back to Sonic and Knuckles who had their mouths wide open in dreaded confusion. They had the _feeling _that Tails had just insulted the hedgehog, but they couldn't accuse him of anything until they could prove it.

_"What?"_ Sonic and Knuckles asked in tandem.

Wave covered her mouth with a hand and Tails covered his eyes with his, grinning as his shoulders shook with silent mirth. They both looked up and gave each other high fives.

Knuckles and Sonic shrugged, "Gear heads…"

* * *

><p><strong>xx.d; <strong>I liked writing this one much better. 


	8. blanket

**xxdomino; **God, things have been a little hectic.

Awesome mega thanks to **FicFan421**, **Spadework2**, **The Guy in the Background** and **Pirony **for reviewing the last chapter.

Endless gratitude to **Spadework2**, **Sugar Baby Cresselia**, **spacegodzilla360 **and **Shkooo **for adding _It's a Technician Thing_ to your favourites and story alerts.

Enjoi.

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_Blanket_

"Tails."

"…Ugh… what?"

"My, my Sunshine. Don't get any cheerier okay?"

"No need for sarcasm Wave, what's up?"

The swallow blinked languidly raising head towards Tails' digital clock, sniffing, they realised that it was around 3:00am, "How long have you been working on that gear?"

The yellow fox made some kind of unintelligible 'ugh' noise again, shrugging his shoulders. He flipped the screw driver in his hands backwards, using his wrist to rub at his eyes. He needed to get this commission over with, the client said that if it was done by tomorrow there was a bonus and Tails could have really used the cash right now. Wave didn't understand, her works were art, treasures, and people were willing to pay whatever she wanted for her world renowned works.

"C'mon Kitty, it's time for some rest," she murmured, placing a gentle hand to Tails shoulder.

He blinked a few times, exhaling and slowly shaking his head, "Gotta get it done."

"Just… finish the rest in the morning," she sighed, slipping of the workbench. What she received was another insistent shake of the head, his neck creaking slightly from the stiff movement. His eyelids felt like anvils and his body like candle wax moving about as slowly as a tired snail, he feels as if he's been dragging dead weight around for the last three hours, even his bangs are becoming too tiresome to deal with.

His body slumps forward for a few seconds, and then his eyes close. His head has landed in something soft, warm and squishy and he revels in the feeling. He exhales, a tired smile curving his lips and the screwdriver drops from his limp hands.

* * *

><p>He woke up to the feeling of someone running their hands through his fringe, light teasing fingertips that reminded him of his mother and her gentle, soothing voice.<p>

When he opened his eyes Wave was gone, there was a fresh cup of coffee on his work desk and a thick blanket draped over his shoulders. Before him, the extreme gear is finished.

"Thank you…" he murmured.


	9. uninvited

**xx.d; **Gosh, I might have to change the rating. Some of these one shots are going to be a little dramatic kay?

Enjoi.

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_Uninvited_

* * *

><p>"You're not the boss of me!"<p>

"Yes I _am_!"

"Ah, you'd like to think so, but you aren't really."

"Where the hell did that come from?" the green hawk screeched, bordering on the echoing howl he had received from his ancestors. Wave sighed and rolled her eyes, gripping the wrist of the scared fox behind her.

"Geez Tails, your attitude is starting to rub off on me."

"Say that again when Jet's decibel range isn't permanently destroying my eardrums," he growled poking a finger into his ears.

"He's _Sonic's _mechanic! I say he's not allowed on our ark. What if he steals our secrets?"

"What secrets?" she yelled in reply, forcing Tails back a little more regretting seeing the fox bury himself into his bandanna, "God Jet, he just wanted to see what my workshop looked like! Sonic wasn't _nearly _as temperamental when he discovered that I was hanging out at Tails' workshop."

"Stop _comparing _me to him!"

She felt Tails tug on the back of her shirt, frightened, "Listen Wave, I could… maybe not visit your workplace, if it's going to cause so much strife."

"Don't be ridiculous," she replied cheerily.

"Be ridiculous."

"Listen Jet," the swallow paused standing tall and to her full height so that she was taller than the leader of the Babylon Rogues, "you don't allow me a lot of luxuries in this life, and I thought that I didn't want any of them. But I swear that if you don't allow me a friend outside of you and Storm then _I'll quit._"

He voice was filled with such malice and hatred that it made both of the boys before her shiver, a cold steely look in Jet's eyes, "Whatever."

Wave tugged on Tails' wrist, jerking him into her room and closing the door, "Wave don't _do _that!" he growled.

"What?" she replied, eyes narrowing, seemingly miffed.

"Don't make arguments among your team members just because of a simple request that I can live without! What if you guys split up? What would the media think? And I couldn't be blamed for something like that! Seriously! What were you thinking?"

Wave sat on her bed, face turned away from the fox. After a few excruciating moments it's silent, and Tails heart drops when he realises she's crying.

Oh God. He didn't know how to handle this.

"I'd never realised before how restricted I was," she sighed, tears trailing.

Tails untied the bandana he had been wearing around his neck and sat himself on her bed, "Please stop." He dabs at her eyes gently and she sniffs, accepting the gentle treatment pathetically.

"God… we may be birds Tails but I'm so far from free…"

What? He'd love to know what it would be like to be Wave for a day. Fame. Fortune. Gear skills beyond his wildest imagination.

"I envy you… so much…" she sighed.

That was a shocker. What with the teasing and how happy she always seemed on the tracks he would have never thought that was the actual reason she had made his life miserable.

They stayed there like that for an unmeasurable amount of time, the truth laid bare before them.


	10. ever present

**xx.d; **They're _laughing _at me. No one can see that my muse is _molesting _me! Heys. Maybe this is going into a romance direction after all. Tell me who'd be against that?

Enjoi.

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_Ever Present_

She'd gotten a boyfriend. Of course it was going to happen eventually, she was a fine looking avian, and deserved someone that realised that.

He served out his time in his workshop listening to The Pretty Reckless and All Time Low while working on his gear commissions, overly excited when he heard a knock at the door and slumping when he realised that it wasn't her.

What he wasn't expecting was the relationship to finish within the month.

Wave turned up at his doorstep, eyes puffy and red. He sighed because he still didn't know how to handle girls crying and bit his lip, opening his arms for a tentative hug. She barreled into him, wrapping her arms around his neck and crushing him to death. He patted her back awkwardly, "I'll ring up the pizza joint and start up the PS3."

Hours later they were sprawled over Tails couch, but they hadn't said a word since the pizza guy arrived. Wave murmured something into his shoulder.

"Wha?" Tails answered groggily.

"I said; no one's ever going to understand me like you do…"

Tails paused. Then smiled.


	11. presence

**xx.d; **I'm sorry that I've been away, (the fridge goblin wouldn't stop stealing my pants) but I haven't been able to think of many prompts for a while. Any one want to write or suggest one for me? I swear I will credit!

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_Presence_

There was something calming and nice that always put Tails at ease whenever Wave was around. Being with his friends was great and all but there had never been someone that he could relate whole heartedly too. They might have had a massive personality difference, but there was some underlying sense of empathy and jealousy between them that made their relationship spark.

It happened slowly and gradually, so snail-like in fact that discovering it was in the strangest circumstance, so even their superior intellects took a while to comprehend it; they were in a friendship.

"Pineapple?"

"No."

"Mushroom?"

"No."

"Capsicum?"

"Kitty…"

"Barbeque sau-"

"Tails!"

"Fine! I'll order your goddamn pepperoni."

It was a well known fact of Tails' Workshop that the only pizza Wave ate... was pepperoni. The place was littered with coupons for the local pizza residence, as opposed to all those for the nearest chilli dog stall. All of his other friends had their favourites, and so when he realised he was eating so much pepperoni he was getting sick of it, he started to wonder; _why_.

"Tails!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm just trying to find the coupon."

Reaching the phone the fox dialed and waited for a second, but the pizza place was quicker to retaliate, _"Pepperoni pizza, garlic bread and Mountain Dew bottle, right?"_

Tails paused a second, "Wha-?" Maybe Silver was now working in the pizza joint, hiring psychics might have improved their business.

The voice on the other end chuckled, _"Sorry man, I've been manning the phone all week and I recognise your number. You and your girlfriend order the same thing every time."_

The fox spluttered excitedly, if he had been drinking something he would have spit it out, "G-girlfriend!"

"_Yeah! Okay, so the order will be over in less that thirty minutes or your money back! But considerin' the fact that you live just a little way over, it's more likely five to ten."_

The line went dead. Tails ran his hands over his face, dragging down his eye bags tiredly, willing his blush to go away. Wave pulled back the curtain and placed a hand on her hip in amusement, "You ok Kitty?"

Tails scoffed, laughing nervously at the sight of his supposed 'girlfriend' , "Yeah… peachy."

Boy, did the pizza place have it wrong.


	12. red cross

**xxdomino; **I'd like to thank **Exploder **for the awesome prompt and **LordCooler **and **Cross The Fox **for adding _It's a Technician Thing_ to their favourites!

And of course, Pocky sticks to **The Guy in the Background, LordCooler, Exploder, cutelittlefreak** and **FicFan412** for leaving your wonderful little comments that keep me going!

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_Red Cross_

Although there weren't many rules in the world of air boarding and extreme gear Tails did find himself obeying some kind of moral conduct that he had been instilled in since he was a child. He had been raised to the best of his parent's abilities and was never on the giving end of any kind of bullying treatment should it be undeserved, because he was _just _that perfect.

However, he had found himself on the receiving end more times that he would like to consciously admit.

He'd been cruising; there was just something terrifyingly suspicious about how easy this race had been. The track was twisted and the flight routes had been hard to find, but for some reason the encountering robots and competitors had gone missing. He really didn't feel right about it.

Moments before he'd reached the end of the second lap, a few hundred meters before the starting line and he shivered as warm jets of air brushed against his face, and he was forced into a blinding impact, pain splintering all across his body as he was rocked left and right.

"_Crap!"_ he growled out as the jet engine spluttered and he tumbled off the board like a demented ragdoll while his gear crash, banged into a nearby snowman.

Somewhere in the back of his mind he heard Jet and Storm laughing, but the prominent fact dangling in front of his hazy vision was the fact that he _knew _he had broken something. He'd heard the sickening crack somewhere in between the tumbling and the sound of his board's explosion.

_Great. _Even his mind was playing tricks on him. Developing a sense of sarcasm seemed to do that to people.

He flexed the fingers of his left hand. _Ow_. Okay, maybe not such a great idea. He lifted himself up on his right elbow and observed his legs, which didn't seem to be distorted in some strange manner or hurt more than what would suggest something worst than minimal bruising, unless burnt Vans sneakers was something to properly lament over. Which in this case it was… they had been a pretty expensive pair.

In all actuality, he didn't want to move from his spot in the sidelines despite the many people observing the race and the medical officers that would be upon him momentarily, he had to wait until they got past the competitive racers and actually made their way over, which would take much longer than any air board because they were not racers themselves and didn't want to travel at speeds faster than 80km/h.

What did surprise him though, was the fact that it wasn't some random spectator, one of Eggman's robots, or even one of the medical officers that came to his aid.

"It was Jet and Storm wasn't it?"

"Wave…" Tails said in a voice that was weak and tired, "I'm in a dark tunnel… and there's a light at the end-!"

"Stop being stupid!" she growled, blue eyes filled with worry and concern as she observed his mangled form, "I can see the indent of their boards in your dilapidated gear…"

"Honest to God Wave," he rolled his eyes, "_your _teammates attack me and the first thing you do is start yelling at _me?_"

He sighed and asked for assistance in getting up, "I'm sorry," she murmured in a voice so soft and broken he was afraid she was going to cry.

The fox toppled a little, not entirely in his right mind while the throbbing pain throughout his body for sustaining all around injuries and a broken arm. How was he going to work like this?

"Why are you apologising? You're not the one that just broke my… my… appendage," he moaned, "goddamnit, I temporarily forgot the word 'arm', you might want to tranquilise me now Wave, before I say something humiliating. Pretty please?"

He looked up to Wave and grinned slightly, leaning into her a little as she ran her fingers through his fringe and she signaled the emergency officers over to the burning pillar of smoke.

Wave didn't service the other two rogues' boards for the next week, which was… _coincidentally _the same amount of time it took Jet and Storm to hand him mumbled apologies when they next saw the young mechanic.


	13. secrets

**It's a Technician Thing**

_Secrets_

Jet snarled, pacing back and forth while he watched Sonic sucking up all the glory while his team clapped and cheered from the side lines, that damnable little fox and his stupid little cast, "How could this happen? We had only discovered that short cut _a week ago_, we would have won if they hadn't figured out it was there."

Storm looked around, the very epitome of cluelessness while Wave nibbled at her beak nervously. He narrowed his eyes.

"You told him where the short cut was." he said accusingly, and by the way that Wave's large blue eyes flickered up and down he knew that he was right, "I can't believe that you would betray us like that!"

"You _broke _his arm! If that doesn't portray bad sportsmanship, than I don't know what does!" she replied angrily, crossing her arms over her chest.

"_This, _coming from the swallow that rigged Sonic's gear to _explode_ in their first tournament?" he scoffed.

"That was _years_ ago! Why did you break his arm? I know that Storm was just following your lead, but why would you do that Jet?" she reasoned as the track slowly started to filter out of people. The Heroes team watched them with a suspicious eye for a moment before disappearing to celebrate their victory, "And don't tell me that it stems from your stupid opinion about how Tails and I shouldn't be friends."

"But that's just it! It _isn't. _You two are not _meant _to be friends! Look at what it's doing to us? You're turning your _back _on _us! _Your friends since childhood!" Jet reasoned, "And don't even speak about this friend's business, when you come back from your high with your little 'crush' then we'll welcome you back with open arms. What do I have to do around here to gain a little respect?"

Wave took a deep breath, but that didn't still her. She was angry, borderline furious, "Do you know Jet, that Tails is left handed?"

"What does that have to do with any-?" Storm attempted to speak but was quickly hissed quiet by the angry violet avian.

"No… you wouldn't understand; that Tails makes his _living _by what he does with his hands, creates _miracles_ with technology that you will _never _understand because you are a spoilt, jealous, conceited little asshole! There are more important things you can be doing that messing about with the way that people _live._

"You will never understand. And it's because of that, that you'll not be able to _ever _gain my respect."

And that is how the diligent, reliable mechanic of the Babylon Rogues came to be missing from their regular vicinity for the next three weeks.

* * *

><p><strong>xx.d; <strong>Dudes, I just realised this is getting a little more dramatic than I thought it would be. Do you think I'll need to change the genre if this continues? Oh, and review! Because they are my gingerbread cookies!


	14. little brothers and skyscrapers

**xx.d; **Thanks to **cutelittlefreak, Exploder, WelshScot, brave kid, xXCookieGiverXx **and **The Guy in the Background **for reviewing the last chapter.

I have another Sonic story in the works which I might bring to light later, maybe after I reach my newest review goal for this story. Remember that prompts for the next chapters are always welcomed and I give credit! I might draw a little more fanart for the fic if I get the time.

This one shot it a little more serious, but it will eventually go back to humour.

Enjoi.

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_Little Brothers and Skyscrapers_

There was a deafening _clang _that resounded throughout the shadowed garage which followed the scuffling of rubber boots. The fur on the back of his neck prickled and a chilling gust flew through his workshop. He looked around for the nearest weapon, clawing at a nearby pistol he'd modified last week just in case they were planning to do anything to his newly healed arm.

"What do you want?" he asked cautiously, turning around and obscuring the view of the weapon with his tails.

The green hawk raised both of his hands in protest, showing Tails that he was clearly unarmed. He seemed vulnerable but sure of his movements, stepping forward so that he was in plain view of the small lamp on Tails work desk where he had been nursing some broken gear. He shifted his sneakers uncomfortably, wiping his oil stained hands on his jeans and straightening out his t-shirt.

"It's been six weeks Tails, I'm really worried about her," Jet admitted, complete unwavering seriousness in his tone.

"And you think I'm not?"

Jet paused a second, looking as if he was about to retort with something lewd and offensive, but he bit his tongue and shook his head, "Would that mean that she hasn't been with you?"

He shrugged and scoffed, merely irritated by Jet's presence, "I would think that to be obvious."

"_Listen you-"_ the hawk snarled, stopping himself at the last second in a last ditch effort to be civil. Tails could see the strain, and had to admit that he received some sick kind of joy the leader of the Babylon Rouges so uncomfortable, "Okay, _please_, hear me out."

Tails bit his lip but nodded, signalling for the hawk to go on, "Me 'n Storm have been looking for her for weeks already, at first it was because we don't know a flying fuck about our gears, but after the first search we started to get really worried. I'll be the first to admit that I haven't exactly been the most supportive of your relation-_friend_ship," Tails raised his brow in confusion as the what he had said, but didn't comment on it further, "or the most hospitable to you-"

"_That's _got to be the understatement of the century," the fox answered cattily, enjoying watching Jet's fingers curl into fists, he could almost see a vein popping from behind forest green feathers.

He growled again, regaining his composure to enough to spit out his sentence, "_And _we now have the sneaking suspicion that she doesn't _want _us to find her. She means so much to m-_I mean _us."

The kitsune let out a steady breath, blinking steadily as his eyes locked with Jet's cool, calculative ones. They betrayed little emotion, if not the slight vulnerability and caution he felt about being in this situation, plus the slip up from before laid his feelings bare to him and Tails was not a stupid fox, "And you want me to do it?"

"Will you?" he asked, a little too eager at that point.

He paused a second, hand flicking back to push the pistol out of reach, "…Is that fact that I am Sonic's technician the only reason that you hate me?"

"It's not." he readily admitted, but after the most uncomfortable, awkward silence Tails had had the misfortune of ever experiencing, it became obvious that Jet was not going to evaluate. He must have known that he had revealed too much already.

Tails groaned, "Why don't you tell her?"

Jet looked to the side uncomfortably, "Ever _only _been considered 'the little brother'?"

The mechanic sighed and nodded, empathising with him, "Yeah."

"So, you gonna find her?"

Tails scooped up his extreme gear and started walking towards the exit, "When she comes back, _please_, refrain from being a whiny little bitch."

"You cocky little son-of-a-"

**x**

"Haven't told him you like to hang out at 90's Boulevard in your spare time?" he asked, sitting at her side as she watched from a sky scraper the goings on and flashing lights beneath them, gear cocked up against the walls behind them, dangling their legs of the edge.

"_Yes, _because if I did then I wouldn't have means of escape when he becomes an insufferable ass," she answered, diving into the conversation despite the fact that they hadn't said a word to each other for weeks. This all felt so familiar, new location, same company. Her words flowed like water.

"Please come back."

"…"

"This sulking isn't doing you any good, you miss racing and you can't without a team. Racing with any other team you know you won't belong, you know they won't be good enough," he explained, secretly hoping she would give in without having the mention her boss, leader and apparent 'little brother'.

"…"

He'd never known her to be this stubborn before.

"He misses you more than you think." he commented off handedly, gazing out across the city landscape.

"_Capital _bullshit Tails."

"I'm serious."

There was another long, lengthy pause before her words came out in whispers, "I'm afraid… he'll hurt you again."

"He won't," Tails replied confidently.

"How do you know? Did you speak to him?" her words were angry and harsh, but that didn't deter the fox in the slightest.

"Yes."

"You did?" her eyes widened, blue eyes reflecting a measure of shock.

"Yeah, and we came to a mutual understanding. Now will you stop being a sulk and come back?" he asked, bouncing of the edge of the building and picking up their gears, offering her her own.

There was a huge pause which he just spent listening to the sound of honks and trains and car exhaust and pulsing music before she nodded and smirked, snatching her board and tilting off the building. He ran to the edge, watching her zip at a ninety degree angle to the street below. He took three steps back and then charged to the edge of the sky scraper, performing a flying leap off the railing.

He caught up to her in seconds, a wide grin plastered to her face, "I over react."

"Yeah," he grinned, "girls tend to do that a lot."

She laughed and bumped her board to his lightly as they zipped through the traffic, "Kidding! Gosh… but really Wave, could you let Jet know you're alright?"

She bit her beak and swerved when she almost hit an oncoming car, replying with something unintelligible.

"What?" he yelled over a honking car.

Her reply was again silenced by her quiet voice.

"Come again?"

She blushed, growling angrily before shaking her head, as if she had given up. She didn't answer for a few more seconds, but her eyes lit up before she spoke, "I said; buy me pizza, and then I'll think about it!"

He rolled his eyes, a happy grin curving his lips, "Sure."

* * *

><p><strong>xx.d; <strong>D'aww. Poor Jet. I know that what I've made him make him seem like some kind of jealous, mean ego maniac, but he's actually one of my favourite characters. I just don't believe in all of the Sonic characters being 'cutesy-lala' no swearing/G-rated characters okay? I'm very into characters with realistic personalities that swear (tastefully) and characters that have been enhanced or altered eg. If Shadow was in the real world, he'd be saying words a whole lot more offensive than 'damn'. Don't deny it! He says it a lot in his video game! I'm also very picky about confessions and how they are said. In this case it was better not to say it at all.

Crazy ain't it?


	15. technological mishap

**xx.d; **Alright! Time to get back to humour and cutesy things :)

Okay, I remember explaining before that not all of this is in chronological order. This might be way _way _later in their friendship, or not happen at all. I don't know.

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_Technological Mishap_

He'd typed it over and over again, writing it and deleting it. Saving it to drafts and deleting it from drafts. One press from sending it, then throwing the phone into the wall. Picking it up again and blushing. Shadow, Rouge, Amy and Sonic had been waiting in the better half of Tails bedroom/waiting area (sofa + outdoor chairs) for Tails to send his message before tending to their broken extreme gear.

"Tails buddy, you done yet?" the blue hedgehog asked, peeking around the curtain separating those observing the television.

He flushed bright red and shook his head, making a gesture for Sonic to go away. His friend obeyed and disappeared once again.

'_Wave, you're my best friend and-'_

Delete.

No. That was stupid.

'_I can't remember the last time I-'_

Delete.

_Will you _stop _sounding like a lovesick girl for _one second?

But he _was _lovesick.

'_I think I like you.'_

He rapped his fingers against the keys absently watching the door.

No.

Dele-

What's that on the screen?

Sent message?

…

Sent message…

…

SENT MESSAGE!

_SENT MESSAGE!_

"Oh God, it reached her! What am I gonna do? Now things are going to be awkward and I wasn't even sure about the situation. I haven't been more than a little brother and she's going to reject me and 'mgonnadieoldandalooonnneee!" he rambled, unaware of how much noise he was making.

Sonic's phone went off, 'His World' playing through deafening speakers.

Tails panicked, flitting about the room like headless chicken before Sonic's voice filtered from behind the kitchen, "Tails I am _deeply _moved by your confession! Unfortunately I make it a point not to date my mechanics."

Sonic stepped around the curtain with his phone dangling from his fingertips, a shit eating grin plastered to his face.

"What the hell? Sonic is my man, Tails!" the pink hedgehog declared in mild confusion.

"Don't be stupid Sugar; he accidentally sent it to the wrong phone," Rouge declared, an amused smile curving her lips. Shadow simply rolled his eyes.

"Who'd you mean to send it to, huh Tails?" Amy purred, creeping closer to get a better look at his phone.

He stared at it before clutching it to his chest, oh… 'Sonic' and 'Wave' were next to each other in his contact list. Well forgive him for not knowing anyone with a name in between 'S' and 'W'.

"Ooh, looks like little Foxy's got a crush," Rouge said in a rather teasing manner, causing Tails to light up like a Christmas tree.

"Shut up and leave me alone!"

They all quietened down, but it didn't deter Shadow from speaking, "It's good that you sent it to the blue louse anyway," he declared ignoring the indignant 'Hey!' in the background, "because whoever she is, I'm sure she'd rather a confession in person."

There was a stunned silence, all eyes locked on Shadow as he flipped through an extreme gear magazine that had appeared out of nowhere. He looked up to meet the curious gazes before yelling angrily, _"What?"_

Sonic, Amy and Rouge lunged for Tails in an attempt to discover who he had _really _been texting. Shadow closed the curtains and tried to ignore the insistent cries from the distressed fox along the lines of 'SHADOW! _HELP ME!_',_'RAPE!'_ and 'ROUGE! FOR THE LOVE OF _GOD_, _NOT THERE!_'

* * *

><p><strong>xx.d; <strong>Oo, Shadow you heartless bastard~


	16. popcorn and chocolate

**xx.d; **Thanks to **Hakimu, brave kid, WelshScot, The Guy in the Background, Fanfic412, Exploder, SmallSpek, cutelittlefreak and xXCookieGiverXx** for reviewing the last couple of chapters.

**SmallSpek- **Dude, I _love _new reviewers! Thank you!

**Fanfic412- **Thanks so much for reviewing every chapter! This seriously makes me happy. I know right? Shadow is so heartless, but everyone loves him anyway. It further proves the theory that emos are irresistible! Thanks for commenting.

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_Popcorn and Chocolate_

"Oh, oh, look at the way his board swivels-"

"That is totally not my fault," she declared, leaning further back in her chair and tossing a few bits of white corn into his mouth.

"No, I see it in the way that Knuckles does it too, they throw their weight around too much," he grinned lightly, propping his feet up onto the railing.

They were sitting in the stands of the starting line, watching the monitors that observed the rest of their team as they made their way through The Aquatic Capital.

"Betcha' five rings Sonic is three seconds from tripping himself up," Wave smirked as she observed the Blue Blur leaning forward alarmingly in an attempt to go faster.

"No he won't, he's Sonic," Tails replied confidently, watching slack jawed as Jet sent a gust from behind and tripped him up, causing Sonic to fall flat on his face, "Oh c'mon! That was cheating."

Wave rolled her eyes and rubbed her forefinger and her thumb together, Tails sighed and dropped five rings into her hand before returning his attention back to the monitors, "Ooh, Storm shouldn't have used a grind type gear, he's about to-"

Proven correct the albatross gave a shaky wobble and fell off the rail, landing with a splat into the water below. Tails and Wave let out synchronised 'Oooo's' and winced as they watched the impact, it _really _looked like it hurt. They'd been associating with each other for two weeks now, and this time had decided to do their mandatory board check up at the same time so that they could assess the performance of their boards in a race without needing to participate.

"Hey," Tails murmured in between bites, "didn't you perform your mandatory board check up last week?"

"I don't know, did I?" she asked, reaching into his little carton and scooping out a handful.

"Yes, I believe that you did. Remember? Sonic and Jet were fighting over the track for half an hour."

"So?" she asked defensively, "What about it?"

"Ah," Tails grinned smugly, reclining further in his chair, "You just wanted to spend time with me."

"As if," she scoffed, crossing her arms.

"There's no need to deny it Wave, there are many women that can't resist my irresistible nature."

"But that's only because you're the little brother they never had," she reached over and ruffled his fringe, causing him to cry out in protest. That was when she had an idea, "Hey Tails? How fast do you ride when you're hyped up on chocolate?"

The fox's eyes moved from the monitors to her, and then back to the monitors again. They widened in alarm when he turned back to her, seeing as she was now pulling out a half eaten Snickers bar from her pocket.

The race had finished, Knuckles had won. The next one was moments from beginning but the other three racers stared in alarm as Wave tackled Tails to the ground, momentarily disappearing from vision as they were obscured by the bleachers in the sidelines.

"YOU CAN'T MIX _POPCORN _AND _CHOCOLATE! _IT'S AN ABOMINATION!" they heard the fox screech before the two fell into an eerie silence. The rest of the racers waited in a horrified mortification before the yellow fox jumped over the bleachers and onto the racetrack as the countdown began, _"MOVE OUT OF THE WAY BITCHES!"_

Damn scientists and their bloody curiosity.

* * *

><p><strong>xx.d; <strong>Someone asked me never to give Tails chocolate again but I just couldn't help it. He acts a lot like one of my little cousins and it's so... surreal and entertaining.**  
><strong>

Tell me what you guys think and...

**ANNOUNCEMENT; **I'll be making in art request relating to this story for the person that answers this question the best, or with the most humour and heart; _Who is your favourite Sonic Next Gen Character, and why?_

Just letting you know,

**Domi.**


	17. arts

**xx.d; **Yay! And the winner of my Question and the picture prompt is **WelshScot **for a very enthusiastic and amusing review.

Thanks also to **cutelittlefreak**, **LordCooler**, **The Guy in the Background**, **Ficfan412**, **Ultima**, **xXCookieGiverXx** and **Exploder** for reviewing the last chapter.

**Ultima**- I'll think about it, I was trying to keep it only to the latest games possible but I might and avoid the old characters a bit. Maybe. That's awesome! Mephiles is a wicked villain, and you're probably the only person that chose it *looks back at reviews* Yep! You are. Points for originality :P

**Ficfan412**- Unless I run out of prompts then I don't think I'll be running out of prompts any time soon, and even then I can just ask reviewers for some. You guys provide awesome feedback and ideas!

For reviewers that don't know what _Max Brenner_ is, it's a shop wholly dedicated to chocolate; chocolate marshmallow pizza, seventeen different kinds of hot chocolate, chocolate, strawberry, banana bread fondue (my favourite!), chocolate cocktails, chocolate icy shakes, chocolate ice cream, chocolate brownies, cookies, waffles, crepes and tiramisu. Yum! My favourite place in the world just happens to be Tails' worst nightmare.

Another note is that if you didn't watch Sonic X, this might get a little confusing but I'm willing to explain it to you if you don't understand.

Enjoi.

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_Arts_

"What's this?" Wave asked, slipping her hands under a pile of weapon catalogues and pulling out a visual art diary.

"What's what?" the fox replied, slipping his goggles up over his eyes and turning to whatever she was looking at, neglecting his work. When he spied what she had uncovered from his gigantic pile of clutter accumulating in the corner he launched himself over the counter and tackled her to the ground, snatching up the sketchbook and dancing over her body before he was well out of reach, flipping through the pictures as if he was flipping through jewels lost, found and recounted before turning back to her and sticking out his tongue.

"What's in there?" she replied, trying to get up, "Porn."

"If only," Tails said, throwing the book onto his bench and sitting on it, before returning back to his extreme gear commission.

"Something better than porn?"

"Worst," he answered, slipping the goggles onto his eyes again, while he worked with the plutonium fuel cells inside this particular gear.

"What's worst than that?" she asked, hooking her hands around the bench and leaning her head on her crossed arms, "Can you please tell me what's inside of that book Tails?"

Tails paused for a second, sky blue eyes narrowing with contempt, "I still haven't forgiven you for that whole 'Max Brenner' incident."

"Will you _drop _that? I already apologised. You weren't _that _humiliated."

"Are you _kidding? _I stole a purple tutu and danced the 'YMCA' while singing Lady Gaga! It's all over fucking Youtube. So you will _not _tell me that I wasn't _that _humiliated. And you're making it worst!" he declared, pouting as he returned to his work once again. She decided to further annoy him by humming 'Bad Romance' in the background.

"D'aww! Taywes has a wittle sequet!"

"Fuck off, fuck off~" he sang, trying to keep himself calm.

She adopted a creepy deep accent and waved her arms around "You _will _tell me that secret~"

"Go away!"

She snuck around the desk when Tails seemed more immersed with his work and when he was totally oblivious from her wrong-doings she grabbed a corner of the VA diary peeking out and tugged, making the fox slip from the chair and land, ass first on the ground.

"God dammit-Wave! Give it back you horrendous bitch!"

Unfortunately Wave was already around the counter and flipping through the pages, gasping in awe. He tried to run around the bench, but to no avail, Wave was keeping an eye on him from around the pages of the neatly decorated book and countering his steps.

"You didn't tell me you were an artist!"

"That's coz I'm not!"

"The Museums I associate with would say otherwise," she retorted, admiring the beauty of these works. Unfortunately, they were dated years apart, meaning Tails only indulged in this talent around nine months at a time.

"This is amazing!"

"No it's not," he declared, suddenly serious.

Tails lunged over the counter again, towards the window that Wave was dancing in front of, papers scattering as she turned to a page filled with green when he barrelled into her and the air filled with a sickening _riiiip_ and an unfortunate _crash. _

"_No…" _the fox let out a heartbroken sob, dropping to his knees, as he fingered the leaves of the small tree he kept by the window and scooped it into his hands, the branch was torn apart and it had absolutely no chance of surviving.

"Tails…" Wave dropped the torn book gently and was about to touch his shoulder when he hissed at her, tears slipping down his cheeks.

"_Go…away…" _he snarled.

"I'm sorry…" she replied sadly.

"Seriously… just-" he let out a shuddering sigh and bowed his head, "leave me alone."

Five months into the friendship and she still didn't know enough about him.

* * *

><p><strong>xx.d; <strong>I have no idea how this turned from humour to angst in three seconds, but now I've opened up some more plotlines by accident. Spiffy!

It seems that fail humour, romance, and angst are the only things I know how to write :P

Review! For they are my Max Brenner coupons! (random ftw!)


	18. blackmail

**xx.d; **Thanks to **WelshScot,** **Spadework2, brave kid, Exploder, cutelittlefreak, LordCooler, The Guy in the Background, Ultima, **and **fallout-boy97** for reviewing the last chapter!

Soz, leaving you at a cliffhanger in regards to the last chapter. I'm so cool :P

_Ficfan412- _We have a few Max Brenner here in Australia, I'm not so sure about everywhere else though.

_Ultima- _I'd say Rouge, since she seems to be the most shameless out of all of them. Actually, I'd say that she and Fiona are tied.

Enjoi.

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_Blackmail_

Hell hath no fury like a fox scorned. Jet should have learnt this the day that Sonic turned up with a concussion because he had dented his gear so badly that the entire system had to be remade. The imprint of something red and throbbing on his temple looked suspiciously like a wrench, one that Tails had in his possession no less. There was also the fact that the kitsune would not _speak_ to Sonic throughout the duration of the race, and proceeded to make the entire track harder for him by creating air currents that led right into solid walls **(1)**.

That was when the Babylon Rogues had decided that pissing of the fox wasn't the brightest of ideas. It had been a completely different concept when he was little, being smaller, a pushover, and something like a cry baby. Now that he was older, and had the guts and a silver tongue to match his overtly smarty-pants intellect, plus martial arts training under the belt, he wasn't the best person to mess with, despite being the second youngest Mobian to ever enter into an Extreme Gear race.

Unfortunately, no, Jet was not the smartest avian alive, neither was he close, or even had the common decency of someone his age to comprehend the fact that Tails was not one to be messed with. One does not get raised as a Freedom Fighter, battle Eggman all their life, and save the world multiple times without getting a little tougher.

Everyone within Tails' friend circle knew he had a *ahem* 'problem' with milk chocolate. _Apparently _no, he did not become some kind of malicious sex fiend, but he did however become a vicious potty mouth which spewed words an otherwise civil, completely clean Tails would never have uttered (unless provoked). And so Jet received multiple warnings from Team Heroes, Team Rose _and _the remaining sane members of Team Babylon that _provoking _Tails about his little 'problem' wasn't advisable.

But since when had Jet ever taken good advice?

And so on the track the hawk had made a show of dancing to 'Bad Romance' as it played over the loudspeaker, imitating the YMCA to fully humiliate the fox. Tails had gritted his teeth and clenched his fists through the entire performance, even when curious spokespeople like Omochao had posted up the Youtube video on _all _of the race monitors so that they could see what the Babylon Rogues leader was getting at.

Jet had been completely _annihilated _in that race.

Giving into the heat of intense rage and embarrassment, Tails had purposefully zapped Jet's board to short circuit it, the attack designed so that whenever the hawk encountered water the currents would attract and zap him into a standstill. The yellow fox had pressed on to the second lap and met Jet when he was still in his first. "What the _hell _did you do that for Foxy?" he squawked, eyes widening when Tails merely growled and proceeded to _slam _Jet into the wall, ignoring the rider when he gave out a high pitched cry of pain. On Tails third lap, his encounter was just as fruitless, resulting in Tails using Gravity Control to hurtle rocks at his green target as he turned a sharp corner resulting in a fractured calf.

You'd think that Jet would have gotten the point by then. But the hawk was a bird-brain… literally.

Over the course of the next few races, he continued to make fun of the fox, and generally settle into the pattern of bullying Tails was used to. But he wasn't the same anymore, and Tails wouldn't stand for it like he did before. When ignoring Jet became too much of a hassle, Tails decided he was going to stop pretending he had some kind of moral escapade going on and resulted to the only thing that would get the hawk's attention; blackmail.

He turned up to the next race at Gigan Rocks with a bouquet of Singapore orchids for Wave, ignoring the strange looks he was receiving from everyone else. He had vowed in front of the mirror that morning that he would be as obnoxious and horrible as possible to get Jet off his back, because as much as people say blackmailing doesn't work and it'll continue some kind of unspoken cycle of hatred going on, and on and on… it _does… _75% of the time. There is no divinity making sure that you are punished for returning someone else's insults, but there might be a sadistic bitch called Karma eating popcorn as she watched people's plans blow up in their face.

Hopefully Tails wouldn't be one of those people.

"Hi Wave!~" he sang, prancing up to the Babylon Rogues like a kid on his first day of school.

"Um, hi Kit-Tails." she now refrained from calling him 'Kitty' in front of Jet whenever he was being particularly hateful towards the fox, much to her chagrin and Tails' pleasure, "Why so cheery?"

"I got you these flowers! Vanilla gave 'em to me free because she's in a good mood. And I thought because you don't have a _boyfriend _that you deserved pretty stuff like this occasionally, right Storm?..." Tails leant to the side to make out the hawk's irritated face behind her, _"Jet?"_

"Haha! That's funny little fox," Storm bellowed, "flowers are for girls!"

Wave squawked indignantly, punching the albatross in the arm. The gray bird dodged her next attack but was forced to flee as she unleashed another onslaught of kicks and punches at him. He should have been paying attention to the comical sight, but was too busy matching Jet's glare with a cocky smirk.

"You cannot use this against me."

"Oh?" the fox turned his head to the side and started strolling over the Wave, Jet accompanying him so that he could make sure he didn't do anything stupid, "So did you want them?"

"Oh!" Wave turned back from her apparent bashing and took the flowers from her with a big smile, "Thank you! That's really… surprising of you."

"Is it? I just thought… you know. And you're so pretty, I'm really surprised _no one_," his eyes slid sideways to stare at Jet, "has asked you out yet."

"Oh really?" the swallow murmured, embarrassed. Her eyelids fluttered as her cheeks brightened with a slight cherry hue, she shifted her feet uncomfortably in light of Tails' compliments.

"Yeah, seriously! Hey," he made hand gestures at Jet, "you and _Jet_ are pretty close! C'mon Jet! Why haven't you asked her out yet, huh?"

"I swear Tails I will-"

"Oh my, what is this development? Why don't you want to ask Wave out Jet huh?" Tails was fully aware of exactly how awkward he was making the entire situation, but he needed to make sure he had gotten the point across and that Jet would not irritate him anymore.

He'd sunk to the lowest possible thing that he could think of; using Jet's crush on Wave as leverage.

"Jet do you have something to say?"

"Yeah…" Wave stepped forward and eyed the hawk curiously, "To me?"

"No!" he replied abruptly, grabbing Tails around the neck and hauling him towards the other end of the starting line, "Now you listen to me Kit, don't you dare blurt what I know you're going to or else-"

"Or else what?~" Tails sang mockingly.

"Are you two alright over there?" Wave asked, cradled the bouquet as she stepped up to them.

"Um… yeah!" Jet replied, "I was just saying to Tails that we should be doing some more bonding, right?"

"Uh-huh!" the fox answered, cheerily. Far too cheerily for Jet's liking, "He said he's taking me out gear shopping!"

"That's corre-_WHAT?_"

"And it's all on him! Isn't it awesome Wave? Now I can get that really expensive electrostatic nuclear accelerator I thought I'd have to wait till my birthday to get!" he giggled delighted, and ran off towards his team to start the race.

"Clever little bast-" Jet murmured just as Storm rocked up to him asking, "What's his problem?"

Wave snapped her fingers and grinned triumphantly, "_Someone _must have fed him chocolate this morning!"

Jet sighed, watching as the mechanic swayed her weight from foot to foot and watched the fox laugh with his friends, an affectionate little smile curling her beak.

"Pfft… yeah, sure."

One thing was sure, he wouldn't be bullying Tails for a while.

* * *

><p><strong>(1) <strong>If you've played Sonic Riders or Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity, then you would understand what these are. The air currents that I'm referring to are called turbulence that generally looks like white half-pipes that are left behind by the fastest racers. If the turbulence is strong enough then they can pick up the movements of other racers, and force them to take the exact path of the person that left behind the turbulence. _I _use this and then turn sharply right before walls so that the people behind me will slam into them. I'm sadistic like that.

A little Tails/Jet interaction for you. And don't worry, I'll be working on the continuation for the angst bit now. I wonder why this one was so long?

**xx.d**


	19. arts ii

**xx.d; **I wanted to notify you that there is a chance I might be starting another story soon. And I know I might be loosing people's interest here when I say that it's Shadow and Rouge centred.

Since I believe that the friendship section of their relationship dynamic (and partially due to the fact that I can't imagine Shadow with _anyone _really, he's far too broody and emo) there won't be much romance, and it has less chance of coupley stuff than even Tails and Wave. It will probably be much darker and more violent, because I _really _like that stuff, and feature the urban environment scene that I really love and isn't featured in _It's a Technician Thing_.

So yeah, I'm going to be taking turns with the story now. Both of them were created really because when I look into the Sonic Archives, there aren't many epic Shadow and Rouge stories that are long and completed, and there are hardly and Tails and Wave ones at all. So this will be an interesting challenge for me while I'm working with my major work. When I get a hold of Sonic 2006, I'm going to see if I can start a Blaze and Silver one.

So if you're into Shadow/Rouge (as a couple or even as friends) then look out for a story called _Heist_ which I will not post until I have at least three chapters, just to see if I can continue it.

_Ficfan421- _But this was created soley so that they'd be short? Egh, don't worry about it. Well then you'd be right, things might heat up soon.

Thanks to **The Guy in the Background, brave kid, WelshScot, fallout-boy97, cutelittlefreak, Exploder, Pixelated Firefly, Ficfan412** and **LordCooler** for reviewing the last chapter!

Enjoi.

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_Arts II_

"Wave there are two weirdoes in the lounge and they want to see you," Storm's voice bounced of the walls and reached Wave in her portable workshop about their typhoon. A few seconds later, and an indignant reply tore itself through the echoing halls in the form of a low pitched female's voice. He recognised it; she'd met the bat in the last grand prix.

She placed the screw driver in her makeshift tool belt, cocking her hips to the side as she tried to locate the specific place for it. She'd been trying to forget about the argument that she'd recently had with her yellow companion, confused as to why that little plant had been so important.

She didn't understand relationships so well herself. Ever since she was little it had been Jet, Storm and her grandfather. She couldn't discern her relationships that easily, and so couldn't understand why Tails had been so upset. That plant probably held some great sentimental value that she just couldn't understand.

The swallow sighed and turned around to regard her newcomers, Rouge the bat and Shadow the hedgehog. She would have said 'Cut to the chase' but the thieving bat beat her to it, "So in light of the fact that Tails has gone missing, there is a huge demand for extreme gear specialists," Rouge explained, heels clicking down the stairs as she did so, raising her hand in an elegant kind of gesture, "you must be _revelling _in the attention."

The technician looked down, turning her head so that she couldn't look the two in the eyes, "No actually."

"So you'd know something about why the little darlin's gone M.I.A?" said Rouge, leaning a hand on her hip. There was a slightly condescending note about her tone that made her a little uneasy, as if Rouge might have known the entire story. The signals that she was giving out now might have been enough for the bat to make her assumptions, Shadow too. Both of them were G.U.N. agents, both of them had to be very observant.

"What do you want?" Wave asked, no malice in her tone, but a lot of suspicion. Shadow answered her this time.

"Just a maintenance check, my board has been veering to the right a lot."

"Damaged puffer jets…" she muttered, walking towards them and taking the board gently, as if she was carrying some kind of prized jewel, "listen agents."

"Intently," Shadow replied, voice silky smooth and full of menace.

"You give me the information I want and the maintenance is free." Shadow and Rouge looked at each other for a bit before nodding and allowing her to continue on, "If you don't then the regular scheduled maintenance will be bumped up from 700 rings to Chaos Emerald."

"What?" Rouge asked angrily, pupils dilating, "That's ridiculous."

"Oh? Go find another mechanic," Wave spat, "Shadow, I hear you dabble a little yourself?"

Shadow shook his head, "Combustion engines, motor vehicles. Aerodynamics is completely out of my range."

"I see, so it would be difficult am I right?" Wave hauled her body onto her table and sat down, cross legged like she normally would at Tails' workshop, "Just give me the information."

Rouge rolled her eyes and shrugged, "Whatever…"

"I did some research on Tails' ship; The Blue Typhoon, and apparently hacking into the system on there wasn't so hard."

"Get to the point," Shadow demanded.

"Who is 'The Seedrian' and what happened to her? The records just… cut off… just like that."

Shadow and Rouge thought about it for a second, and then he scoffed, closing his eyes momentarily till they were ruby red slits, "_Cosmo_ was an accidental traitor for an alien species called the Metarex."

"… She was… incredibly special to Tails…" Rouge added hesitantly.

"And what happened to her?"

The three stood in silence for several more moments before Shadow turned away, "It isn't my place… nor is it in my best interest to become something like an adversary to Tails again." the black hedgehog stated solemnly, turning around and walking away.

Rouge looked between the swallow and the hedgehog and started to follow him out, "Wait!"

Wave brought in her outstretched hand, she couldn't believe the words had just left her mouth, "I was bluffing, I'll do the maintenance."

"You didn't have to threaten us for the information Babydoll," the bat shrugged, walking over to Shadow by the door, "Tails wouldn't have."

"I'm not Tails," she murmured, she then looked up and raised her voice, "Do you know where he might be? What could I do to make amends for breaking that plant he keeps in his workshop?"

Rouge's eyes widened, and Wave felt her heart sink, "Hon, Tails might be the kindest little boy I've ever known, but unless you have a way to fix that plant then I'm afraid that Tails might never forgive you."

She sighed… "Shit."

"Exactly. There's only one kind of magic you'll need to acquire to fix it. Knuckles told me about it once. It's healing potency might be able to heal any kind of plant with just a single drop of the stuff."

Shadow deposited his extreme gear by the door, and Rouge dropped hers onto Tails workbench. Wave slid of the table and locked eyes with the fellow thief, "Did he tell you where to find it?"

* * *

><p><strong>xx.d; <strong>Well apparently this one-shot-that-evolved-into-a-two-shot looks more like a four shot to me. What an accident! Tell me what you think :)


	20. red cross ii

**xx.d; **Thanks to **LordCooler**, **brave kid**, **cutelittlefreak**, **Ultima**, **Ficfan412**, **SmallSpek** and especially **Exploder** for reviewing and reminding me about this prompt.

Arts III will be continued later… when I feel like it.

And yay! 100 reviews :P I didn't even notice until I looked at my profile today. So _Ficfan421_, being the 100th reviewer, you are entitled to a 500+ word one shot. Message me with the details if you want it, the Sonic fandom is preferable.

Enjoi.

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_Red Cross II_

"Why, oh _why _didn't I break my right arm instead? At least things would have been easier to handle… woe is me! These dreadful weeks will forever scar into my memory! Alas, I find myself redundant in comparison to the greats, like Van Gogh without an ear. How must he have felt? Well sizing himself up to people like Shakespeare without hands, Da Vinci without a brain, or Michael Jackson without a voice. Gods, this is tragic!"

"Just _shut up _already!"

Tails sniggered lightly and Waved rolled her eyes. Yesterday he'd broken his arm, but the good old doc didn't see anything unusual about it, all he'd have to do is rest up for a few weeks and he'd be fine. He walked around with his arm in a sling as thought about rationing food because he wouldn't be able to take on some new gear commissions with a broken arm. Wave was over trying to entertain him. So far it had proven incredibly difficult.

They were sitting in his lounge room on the top floor of his workshop roasting marshmallows over the fire and trading stories. He'd been through much more than the average twelve year old does. It was, to say the least, incredibly surprising.

"I used to live in a place called Knothole, there me and a bunch of resistance called the 'Freedom Fighters' fought Eggman when he used to call himself 'Robotnik'. I think I was with them since… Gods… maybe since I was six years old? It was a really long time ago."

"Why'd you move away from Mobotropolis?" she asked, remembering that she'd tried to rob the Royal Palace a few years ago. They had some tight security.

"Too much politics, drama… stuff like that. Sonic once had this… _thing _with the princess and he hasn't been able to let it go. I never get any rest there. It's why the rest of my friends have moved away too, but apparently we can't be left along for more than a few months without something bad happening. Ya gets?" he grinned looking around, eyes landing on the door, "When's the take out gonna get here?"

There was a knock at the door and Tails looked at Wave expectantly, "What?" she asked him.

"Are you going to get that?" he asked, shrugging his shoulders like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Your legs seem to be in perfect working order."

"But-" Tails blinked wide blue eyes up at her, voice breaking and lip wobbling, "But I'm injured!"

They had a small little stare down before Wave shook her head and chewed contently at her marshmallow. Tails let out a petulant whine and jutted out his lower lip… _no_.

He couldn't.

He wouldn't.

Gods, she knew Tails was evil but she never assumed he would be _this _evil!

He'd unleashed the terrible horror of… 'The Puppy-Dog Pout!' (Version 2.0 Tails Style.)

Wave snarled at him and hopped up from her position on the floor to get the door. Tails was about to do a little fist pump when the pain in his arm reminded him that he couldn't anymore.

Wave dumped the Chinese takeout before him and stomped into his kitchen to get the cutlery, grumbling out a loud, "You are _evil._"

"Yeah, I guess, but that doesn't matter 'coz you love me," he laughed looking up at her through lowered eyelashes and laughing lightly so that they closed in bliss.

_I guess I do… _she thought absently.

* * *

><p><strong>xx.d; <strong>I've been doing a lot of contrasting writing lately, and that means that when I'm writing fluff I'm reading horror, and when I'm writing angst I'm watching or listening to something humorous. It really freaks my friends out. While I was writing this fluffy chapter I was reading a horror story about Tails Doll. Fascinating thing really. Now be careful going to bed tonight kiddies, or he might take your soul :)


	21. arts iii plus talking to the moon

**xx.d; **Sorry, just lost all my information and now I have to write this all over again. I'm so annoyed.

**x **So there's a new story on my profile called Heist. Check it out if you're into Shadow and Rouge.

**x **This is supposed to be an overtly emotional chapter. I hope I achieved.

**x **Thought it was about time to give Wave another talent.

**x **Written with the help of the song _Talking to the Moon _by Bruno Mars. Start playing it and press repeat! I didn't really realise how much this fit until I typed in the lyrics. Here's an amazing cover with a female voice; **http : / www . youtube . com / watch ? v = N _ Q0KrTgOVI** (just remove the spaces and enter ^.^)

**x **Thanks to fallout-boy97, cutelittlefreak, BlissofanAngel, Ultima, WelshScot, Ficfan412, LordCooler, The Guy in the Background and Exploder

_Ficfan412_- I'm sorry, I don't understand your prompt, what did you mean? You're going to need to evaluate.

**Warning; **There's an abstract form of Cosmo bashing in this chapter. Both metaphorical and physical.

Enjoi.

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_Arts III  
><em>Or  
><em>Talking to the Moon<br>_

His limbs were glue and jelly as he scrapes finger tips at his door to get inside, scraping worn boots and dirty worn tails across the floor. He's bushed and about to collapse, but he won't because he's too busy contemplating in the doorway, wondering about this and that, Cosmo and plants, Extreme Gear and Wave…

He lets out a tiny little moan, neck creaking in protest as he rolls the tired bone forwards and backwards like a rocking chair in an attempt to get it working again. Slipping his goggles down he cocks his extreme gear against the door and turns around, eyes sliding over a huge white circle and the tiny little pinpricks of diamonds littering the sky. His heart aches.

Why did he feel so heartsick? Why did he need to go home?

The answer was simple, but it eluded him because he was so unwilling to say it. So unsure about it. Friendships were treasured little things, so strong and yet so fragile. Able to break with three simple words really.

He didn't hate Wave. He could never hate Wave. Wave was… she was freedom. She was… was entertainment, his evening wind, his zephyr. She was light, she was sunshine. She was witty, and funny, and beautiful, intriguing and understanding and… and… his. _His._

The fox brushed his fingers through his bangs and over his face, willing his blush to go away. He needed to get inside and-work on some gear or something. Whatever would take his mind of his deep contemplations? He was _twelve. _He didn't know anything about l-lo-

Lov…

Yeah… he didn't know anything.

What had he been thinking? He wasn't Sonic. He couldn't just leave his home and do nothing along the lines of packing. Three days into his little escapades and he was missing trivial stuff like TV, PS3, PC, CD's, pizza, coffee… company… he was so superficial.

Who was he kidding? He didn't want _company! _He wanted _her _company.

Before she'd come along he'd speak to 'the seed'. Wondering if somewhere in the galaxy Cosmo would hear him. But despite everything… what had he and Cosmo had in common? A sense of morality? Kind hearts, he'd once heard Shadow say. But that was when he was young, immature (more so than he was now), dependant. If he truly was different, then what did they have in common now?

She was special. He would at least admit that. But… if he really was as mature as he perceived himself to be then he should forgive Wave for what she had done right? Yeah… he would do that, right as soon as he took a nap.

He was dragging his nearly limp body into the garage when he caught site of her, illuminated by the pale moonlight as… as…

"_I know you're somewhere out there,  
>Somewhere far away.<br>I want you back.  
>I want you back.<br>_

_My neighbours think I'm crazy,  
>But they don't understand.<br>You're all I have.  
>You're all I have."<em>

_Where the _hell _did that come from?_

He never knew that swallows were song birds, and here she was, belting out music that would just about make his heart melt.

"_A night when the stars light up this room,  
>I sit by myself.<br>Talking to the mo-oo-on.  
>Trying to get to yo-oo-ou.<em>

_And hope you're on the other side,  
>Talking to me too.<br>Or am I a fool?  
>Who sits alone.<br>Talking to the moon."_

_I think… I think I might cry._

He should have really stopped her, but…

"_I'm feelin' like I'm famous,  
>The talk of the town.<br>They say I've gone mad.  
>I've gone mad.<em>

_But they don't know what I know,_  
>'<em>Coz when the sun goes down.<br>Someone's talking back,  
>Yeah they're talking back.<em>

"_A night when the stars light up this room,  
>I sit by myself.<br>Talking to the mo-oo-on.  
>Trying to get to yo-oo-ou.<br>_

_And hope you're on the other side,  
>Talking to me too.<br>Or am I a fool?  
>Who sits alone.<br>Talking to the moon."_

He stepped forward and stumbled, immediately stopping her melodies as she flung forward to help him with a loud screech, _"TAILS!"_

She brought him in for a hug, not unlike that of a killer python. Hugging him with one arm before remembering why he was avoiding her in the first place, "I'm sorry for what I did. I never realised the plant was so important and I found a way to fix it for you!"

"How?" he asked sceptically, looking to the plant in the windowsill, "It was completely thrashed Wave, and the stem was almost completely ripped from the root."

She shrugged, raising her hands a bit and realised there was a brace around her right hand, "I went back to Gigan rocks and recovered something. Ancient Babylonian remedy, used for raising the dead. I tried some of it on a dead dog, it works," she affirmed, placing a small little vial in his hands.

He stared down at it for a few seconds, gently placing it onto his table. That vial was priceless… and she… and she risked her life to save a _plant._

_For me._

"And that's how you fractured your wrist? Isn't it."

Her eyes widened, large blue eyes illuminated by the moonlight. She hid her hand behind her, but the body language was enough to give Tails his answer.

"Nah…" he murmured, shaking his head.

"What but I-?" she protested, but he held up his hand.

"Don't get yourself hurt over… over stupid matters like this. Okay?"

They stared at each other for who knows how long, sky eyes locking as unnamed feelings and a raging intensity hung between them before she sighed and murmured, "How do I repay you then?"

_You know what? I'll get over this._

It's time to move on right?

"Sing for me."


	22. arts iv plus thanks for the memories

**xx.d; **Wo0t! My exams are over :) Time for some happiness.

Thanks to **WelshScot**, **The Guy in the Background**, **Ficfan412**, **Exploder**, **SmallSpek**, **cutelittlefreak**, **LordCooler**, **fallout-boy97**, **kobiee** and **little-miss-monochrome** for reviewing the last chapter.

_Especially _to **kobiee **and **little-miss-monochrome** for having the dedication to review _all _21 chapters (with or without a little begging from some little review whore).

_Ficfan421- _I'm working on your one shot, but since it's got a melancholy feel to it, I'll be posting it up later because I want something happy and delightful instead of something angsty and scary.

_WelshScot- _Your picture ended up being a comic strip, which now has pictures! I just need to outline it, colour it, and then add the dialogue.

Apart from them people, I'm sorry if I haven't answered your reviews. Studying and that (or lack thereof).

**The author would like you to note; **that this can be considered an abstract 'Arts IV'… technically.

Song lyrics are _Thnks fr th mmrs _by Fall Out Boy. Stereo wall idea was taken from _Step Up 3D._

Enjoi.

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_Thanks for the Memories_

"_And I want these words to make things right,_

_But it's the wrongs that make the words come to life._

'_Who does he think he is?'_

_If that's the worst you've got better put your fingers back to the keys-"_

She'd been leaning against the doorway for little more than five minutes, but Tails had been so immersed in his music and painting the spare wall in the garage that he hadn't noticed her at all. Shaking his hips and spinning his tails, paint flecking across his t-shirt and jeans, he didn't really care, and focused more on painting the wall a light gray colour.

The swallow let loose a giggle, and Tails jerked around and grinned at her, waving her over and turning down the stereo attached to a side wall. It was amazing really; it seemed an entire wall had been composed of different types of stereos, which was monumental because people never even seemed to use stereos anymore.

"Hey, I'm working on art again, like you told me so," he declared.

She laughed lightly, hand over her heart while her face radiated pure delight, "I _suggested _you try to start again, I didn't mean _completely _paint over your wall."

"What better way to start than on something big and reusable? This side of the garage has been covered in posters for the better half of its existence; I'm not using it for anything."

"You could have thought of something a little less spontaneous than a giant mural," she murmured, walking a little bit closer and examining the CD's littering the floor by the wall.

"Well, I'm sorry I'm not as creative as you."

"Bull."

"Oh shut up, you are twice as creative as me," she replied, "What'cha gonna put on the mural?"

"Well, I was thinking of drawing a picture of Cosmo in her final for-" he stopped abruptly, realising exactly what had slipped from his lips and the mood immediately sobered up, back going rigid as he paused mid stroke before the muscles in his small body loosened up and he visibly sagged.

"It isn't my place, but… you might feel better if you get your burden off your chest."

He nodded lightly and went downstairs to his workshop, returning with the crumpled bit of plant. He had a flower with him; it was a small pink blossom that had been pulled apart when the plant fell.

"Are you sure you don't want to-?"

"Absolutely. You can use that medicine for when one of my _living _friends are dying." he replied, plopping himself down and staring at the dead plant, she came and sat opposite him a moment later, the lyrics _'one more time, thanks for the memories' _playing in the background, "If I have to be brutally honest, I think I might have been in love with her. Or as in love with someone as you can get when you're eight years old."

"I'm so sorry," she muttered sadly.

"It's alright; it was _her _decision after all. She nullified the enemy so that Sonic and Shadow could hit them with everything that they could. Shadow tried to bring her back to life but that seed is all that remained… I have a feeling that Shadow's Alien DNA might have stopped the growing process, because a few years ago it just randomly stopped growing, that flower has been in bloom for over three years."

"Oh… okay."

"Sonic gave me some closure a few months after she died. Said she's alive with the trees or something comforting like that." he was being surprisingly strong, smiling slightly, "You know what? I don't think it would be a good idea to draw that after all."

She wasn't going to comment on that, it wasn't her place.

"C'mon," he said, getting up and hauling her up too, gathering the debris in his palms and opening the double glass doors to his launching pad. Walking to the end where the road simply stopped and the cement gave way to a great mountain gorge, he silently mouthed, 'one, two, three' before throwing the petals into the air and watching the wind carry the roses around them once, twice before they flitted further away. They watched those small dots of pink until they were no longer visible, and then for a bit more, just for good measure.

Tails was the one that lead the charge back in silence, murmuring 'Thanks for the memories' under his breath.

She complied with the silence as well, unknowing as to what she could say to provoke conversation out of the little fox. He spoke for her, after around ten minutes of silence, startling her so much that she accidentally smeared the paint on her hands. She cursed under her breath, but continued to listen to what Tails was saying.

"You know what?..."

"Hmm?"

"I feel… lighter."

Her eyes softened as she met his baby blues, and she reached over to pat his back in silent reassurance. They continued to paint again, humming the melody for the song before the fox realised something.

"Hey!" she turned to him, watching as he tried to twist his body around, "You got paint on my back!"

She let out a quiet snort, but before she could reply a huge _splat _resounded in her ears and she noted that there was a huge diagonal splash of paint on her top. She looked up to Tails, who was grinning in triumph, "Oh, you're gonna get it now."

.

When Shadow and Rouge walked in on the both of them, half of Wave's face had been blotted out, the gray drying on her eyelashes, and Tails had been rewarded with a messily painted moustache right under his nose. They scrambled apart and Tails smiled, holding back laughter as he dusted of his jeans and asked, "So, what can I do for you?"

Let it be noted that even _Shadow _had trouble taking the young fox seriously.

* * *

><p><strong>xx.d; <strong>Sorry if it wasn't my best work, I'm in a bit of a writing slump.


	23. achievement

**xx.d; **My major story is suffering from this writers block. I think I might draw something for the last scene, yeah?

Thanks to **fallout-boy97**, **cutelittlefreak**, **Ficfan412**, **brave kid**, **The Guy in the Background** and **LordCooler** for reviewing the last chapter.

STILL working on that one-shot FicFan! Having trouble… starting.

**(EDIT) **Kobes noticed a bible reference that was in there. Wow. That's just terrible. **(END EDIT)**

Takes place a little while before 'Arts' and finished a little while after it. So like… six months into their friendship.

Enjoi!

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_Achievement_

There were a few (or a _lot_ of) hidden techniques that made the Babylon Rouges legendary, far surpassing the skill of any ordinary rider, and one of those famous moves-that Wave had developed herself and taught to Storm and Jet-was named _Wake. _

Tails had already figured out the logistics of the move, but couldn't summon up the actual strength to be able to pull it off.

While at top speed the swallow would use gravity control and eventually slip from it to perform a barrel roll in mid-air, using her turbulence to create a tunnel fraught with tornados and anyone caught in the middle would be flung in different directions as soon as the tube collapsed. It was a truly amazing technique; Eggman had been trying to steal it for the better half of two months.

The fox realised the technique to be a kind of extension of the turbulence normal racers made, just extended to occupy a full spectrum instead of a simple 180 degrees. The mini cyclones inside were what was left behind from the force of her boost, and the web like structure of the entire product was because it was unstable and filled with visible air ripples too weak to be actual waves, courtesy of the tornados.

Unfortunately the gravital polarity provided a pressure far too unstable for an inexperienced person. Normally, the immediate reaction to Gravity Dive would be for the subject to be forced to earth immediately after its use. There was a specific time at the end of a gravity dive-and by specific he meant the _only _time-when the barrel roll had to be executed, and performing the barrel roll under a pressure twice your weight was _really _hard.

Tails had been lifting weight for over half an hour, every day, for the last three weeks in hopes of getting strong enough to pull of _that _barrel roll and Wave thought that… maybe, just _maybe _the kitsune was getting a little obsessed.

"Kitty! I want to go out and ride or something."

"Go then," he replied, onto haul three hundred and forty-forty something or whatsits.

"Come with me."

"You're a big girl, you can do it yourself." Great, he was moving to push ups now.

"But I need a man to protect me from the big, baddies out there."

"What an understatement," he replied sarcastically, "you're stronger than me."

She groaned, throwing her head back, "That's because I've been practicing parcour since I was twelve Tails! You can start practicing now and you'll be better than me someday, but you're going to hurt yourself if you want to get the trick done immediately."

"Since you were _twelve, _you say?" he replied, crossing his arms and placing his chin on them, so he was lying on the floor.

"Well… I've been flying extreme gear since I was able to walk, so maybe it doesn't-" but that didn't matter because now Tails was in her face and demanding that she teach him.

"Oh gods, I wish I didn't say that."

A few painstaking months later and in the midst of the Forgotten Tomb Tails managed to pull _Wake _off, frightening absolutely everybody else in the vicinity and causing him to be the winner of the race. Wave was ecstatic and hopped over the observation stands to hug him, alternatively sweeping him off his feet. How's _that_ for feminism?

"You did it!"

"I did?"

"You just did 'Wake' stupid Kitty! It's replaying on the monitors!"

And in truth, they were. Tails realised what had just done. And all was good.

"Tails! That was amazing!"

"Awesome work buddy!"

"Pretty good for a kid."

"Nice footwork."

Tails and Wave jumped up and down like high cheerleaders, freaking out everyone around them as they hugged and cheered.

"Would you two get a room?" Jet sneered from the sidelines, miffed because he was beaten by a move even _he _hadn't completely mastered yet. Oh gods... and the... crush on Waves thing... yeah...

Tails grinned, leaning forward to kiss Wave's cheek and poke his tongue out at Jet. He knew it was a little cruel, but in his defense, he was feeling really happy, "Sure Jet, I'm all for threesomes and stuff but you've gotta ask Wave."

The hawk let out some hacking noise before the fox turned back to Wave who was trying to hide an embarrassed flush; he tightened his hands around her neck, squeezing. There was a sudden flash and then they were being mobbed by the worst half of the Mobian paparazzi.

Wave dragged her hand down her face but Tails merely laughed cutely, words of the public drowned out when he muttered a quiet, "Thank you, Wave."


	24. nightmare

**xx.d; **Dedicated to **FicFan421**, thanks for sticking with me from the very beginning! C'mon guys, just a little more and we'll be at two hundred!

Thanks to **SmallSpekThought I loged in** (Lol), **WelshScot**, **cutelittlefreak**, **Ultima**, **LordCooler**, **Exploder**, **Ficfan412**, **The Guy in the Background** and **kobiee** (You sneaky _bastard!_ Stop stealing my Aloe Vera cans!)

This one-shot takes place _much _further in the relationship, like… bordering on _lovers._

**Enjoi.**

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_Nightmare_

No chocolate before bed, she said. But did he listen? _Noooooo_.

_There he was, eight years old. Freezing cold, rain soaked bangs drenching his fur and slapping across his face in a violent frenzy. They were atop Babylon Garden again, with wind so violent and strong that even the birds would have trouble if they were caught in an updraft like this one._

_He didn't care about her then. Looked up to her sure, respected her; of course, but cared for her? No. At that point the swallow was immediately another wall in between him and his goal, the secrets of Babylon Garden as Eggman tried to find and defile whatever was left of an ancient civilisation. He was not letting that ego maniac near anything of that kind of value. _

_Now he did care. Waves past a condescending look his way before she hopped onto her board to endure the elements like her leader had a minute ago. She was younger then too, more naïve, less respectful, more of a downer. She followed Jet with a blind admiration, and he would be the first to say that the hawk had not improved his attitude over the years._

_He set off after him, the skills that he had learned from this point on, useless because he did not have the physical strength to pull them off. In this lifetime, Tails had only been riding his extreme gear for a couple of months, so he was very little match for any of them really. He had to propel himself forward using his tails, to make up for the wind that was pushing him in the opposite direction._

_He caught up to her when they had almost reached the goal, eyes wild as she ignored the onslaught of pain, with rain and hail so hard they dented their gear, broke her glasses, bruised her skin. It was terrible. _

"_Wave!" he yelled in warning. _

"_What?" she growled, but it was too late. She lost all control and teetered of the edge of the track. Tails skidded to a stop and stumbled off his board, skinning his knees, reaching the edge of the track with tears streaming down his cheeks, gripping the ancient stone and belting out her name as the wind tossed her about like a rag doll._

"_Tails!" she screamed, wings useless as her body faded out of sight._

"_Tails."_

"Wave…" he whimpered, choking back a sob.

"Tails… Kitty, wake up," her voice tickled his ears as her breath ghosted over the top of his head.

He was rubbing his nose into something warm and fluffy, blinking away the tears from sore eyes. There was no water soaking into his skin, there was no blistering wind tearing at his fur, they're safe, he's fine, Wave's alive. When he opened his tear ridden eyes he realised he'd been rubbing into her feathers, and she was stroking his back reassuringly, he'd fallen asleep while she was trying to watch _Advent Children_.

"You okay?"

"'Adda bad dream…" he mumbled sleepily as she wiped away a few stray tears and he leant his cheek on her shoulder. He had pyjama clad legs bent, one knee digging into her thigh, the other arched over his calf with the heel of his foot balanced on the edge of the sofa. The swallow had her legs crossed at the ankle, feet propped up onto the coffee table where two mugs quivered a lukewarm liquid. She looped a hand around his shoulder and squeezed, turning to kiss his cheek, moving up to peck his temple.

"Wanna talk about it?"

It took him a while to reply, having gone through three scenes before he nuzzled into her collar bone, shaking his head.

"Okay…" she replied, laying a comfortable little press of lips to his forehead.

His hands snaked around her waist and he breathed quietly into her shoulder, eyes fluttering as her breathing gently lulled him to sleep once again, "Don't leave me… like, ever." Because this comfort, this _affection _that she offered him, he knew he couldn't live without it now that he had experienced it. It wasn't the kind a friend gives another, it's the form of comfort _lovers _receive.

She smiled lightly, resting her head on top of his, eyes never leaving the screen, answering absently, "I don't really plan to."

He sighed into her neck as sleep finally took him, "… love… you."

She murmured a tired 'What? I couldn't hear you,' but the fox was already asleep.

_Unfortunately_.

* * *

><p><strong>xx.d; <strong>Kisses for **fallout-boy97**! You said you wanted Wave kissing Tails, and you got _three! _Lucky you XD.

Hope you guys enjoyed my hopeless attempts at fluff. Now I shall go and watch some _Advent Children_.

**ღ**


	25. facebook

**xx.d; Exploder**, you asked for it.

Enjoi.

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_Facebook_

They were in the workshop again, Tails leaning over the plans for a new model of extreme gear when in truth, he had been sketching models _on top _of the extreme gear. He'd been getting used to drawing again, splitting up the time between his sketching and his machine tinkering. He'd been scribbling over a riders hand repeatedly, damning the difficulty of the situation to hell when she dropped the bomb shell on him.

"Me and Ash broke up," she declared, shrugging the situation off as if it was nothing. In truth, he knew it hurt her, because her relationship with Ash had been the longest out of many; seven months. She'd even admitted to Tails that she'd fallen in love with him, which… which might have hurt Tails a little more than he had originally thought.

"Oh god, really? Why?" he asked, dropping his pencil and hopping up onto the work bench to be closer to the avian, who had been sitting on the other end of the table.

She turned her head to the side, sighing wistfully, "He still had feelings for Mina."

He blinked. Ash had seemed totally fine to him… but then again he hadn't been paying much attention to him, "Wow. I wouldn't have guessed."

"He said that I don't seem to be totally into it either."

The fox raised an eyebrow at her, unwilling to voice his opinions. In truth he had thought of something dirty first, and then realised the full extent of what she had just said, "Why?"

She made a little sound in the negative, indicating that she was unwilling to speak about it, her cheeks flushing a light pink under his gentle lamp light.

"Do you want some comfort food? Pizza? Ice cream?"

Another little sound, this time the absence of a laugh, "That's so gender stereotypical Tails, I'm disappointed."

"So you don't want any?"

"I didn't say that."

He got out a bucket of chocolate ice cream from the fridge and was scooping it into bowls, but at Wave's insistence he finished scooping his serve into a bowl and just gave her the tub. He wasn't going to fight her, he was just happy that she hadn't burst into tears yet, that would be a problem.

"Thought you couldn't eat chocolate?" she questioned.

"It's Vanilla's 'I can't believe it's not chocolate' ice cream," he explained, "it's made with chocolate malt, so there isn't enough cocoa powder for me to go insane. It doesn't taste anything like real chocolate, so if you want some coffee ice cream there's some in the fridge."

She spooned some into her mouth and sighed quietly, almost contently, "It has semblance." Tails heaved his laptop onto his legs and quickly Google'd 'how do you deal with girls that have gone through break ups?' He knew. Pathetic really.

She stares at his sketches while he looks for the most reliable source, the sound of keys the only in the workshop before she becomes bored of that and turns back to him, tapping her spoon against his neglected bowl where the ice cream had started to melt, "What are you doing?"

He quickly exited all the pages, filled to the brim with mushy crap meant for _girls _to say to _other girls _and was left with an open Facebook profile. He was trying to delete the messages he was receiving from his Hotmail account. Cream had recently discovered the magic of the internet and hadn't hesitated to attempt to wow him with funny things she had found. Cream was a doll, the best little sister that one could ask for, but these messages were getting a little annoying. He didn't even remember why he had made an account, apparently his last post had been to wish Sally a 'Happy Birthday' while he was back in Downunda.

"You know what? I'm giving up on men!"

"Gods, why?" he asked, pressing the delete button over and over again.

"I can't rely on any of them! Seriously. Five boyfriends that turned out to be either sleaze bags, gay or in love with _other _women. A little brother that makes me want to tear my feathers out, and a colleague that stumbles on monosyllabic words," she complained, "honestly, I can't see why they can't just die in a motherf-" Tails scooped up her spoon and shoved it into her beak before she could continue.

He rolled his eyes as he continued with the deleting, "Hello? Male here!"

"Yeah, but you're only twelve, you're not a man yet."

"I am too!"

She laughed this time, a real joyful one, and reached up to ruffle his hair, "Oh Tails. Don't ever grow up."

He growled a little, picking up the bowl of melted ice cream and drinking some of the contents, "What are you going to do about your Facebook profile?"

"What about it?"

Wave didn't like to interact with her extreme gear fans much.

"It says you're still in a relationship."

She grabbed the laptop before Tails could protest, screwing around with his profile. He hopped of the bench and tried to snatch it back.

"What are you doing? Don't send Jet any hate mail! I'm already on his bad side for screwing around with his propeller jets last month."

Wave finished typing for a bit and the closed the laptop, "Let's get pizza!"

"It's 2:00am!"

"They serve 24/7 in Mobotropolis Square."

"But that's… oh God, let me get out the X-Tornado."

"Stop being lazy and just get your gear."

.

Around ten the next day he groaned, realising that he'd received more messages from Facebook. He rubbed at his eyes, blinking them in confusion when he noticed a message from Ash.

* * *

><p><strong>Miles Prower<br>**_works at: _Twin Tail Tools.| _studies at: _New Mobotropolis High.|  
><em>lives in: <em>Angel Island.| _from: _Cocoa Island. | _born on _October 16.|

Wall  
>Info<br>Photos (_298)  
><em>Notes  
>Friends<p>

…

**Friends (**_**3592)  
><strong>__  
><em>**Sonic  
><strong>_New Mobotropolis High_**  
>Knuckles<br>**_Angel Island Guardian_**  
>Amy Rose<br>**_New Mobotropolis High  
><em>**Wave  
><strong>_Babylon Rogue Technician  
><em>**Cream  
><strong>_New Mobotropolis Primary  
><em>**  
><strong>…

Suggest Friends  
>HideBlock

**Recent Activity  
><strong>_-Miles _changed his profile picture._  
><em>-_Miles_ and _Cream _are now friends.  
>-"Wave says your pants are probably in the…" <em>on Jet's <em>photo.

…

**Ash **Prower, what the hell?_  
>Friday at 9:32am<em>

…

**Sonic **gotta lead on the next Grand Prix, buddy!_  
>Friday at 4:28am <em>via Blackberry

**Tails **Coolio, text me the details.**  
>Sonic <strong>will do.**  
>Jet <strong>no point, you'll be spendin' it eatin' dust anyway.**  
>Sonic <strong>no one asked you almighty Jet the parrot!**  
>Jet <strong>take it black you spiky blue excuse for a hairbrush!

_See 18 more comments._

…

**Wave **I'll be expecting a ring!_  
>Thursday at 1:53am<em>

* * *

><p><em>What?<em>

Scroll.

Scroll.

Pause.

_Oh._

* * *

><p><em>Miles <em>went from _single _to _married _with _Wave._

…

_Miles _commented on _Wave's _post.

**Miles **Pshaw, better be expecting a ring pop, bitch!**  
>Wave <strong>D'aww, love you too Honeybuns!**  
>Miles <strong>I can't believe you would use me to change your status.**  
>Wave <strong>Geez, what do you think of me?**  
>Miles <strong>Not much, but then again, hacking my profile isn't below you.**  
>Sonic <strong>gosh, can't you just /feel/ the love?

_See 12 more comments._

**Miles **Isn't that a form of paedophilia?**  
>Jet <strong>try telling /her/ that.**  
>Miles <strong>That's the last time I'm helping you with a break up.**  
>Wave <strong>I love you! You're the best!**  
>Miles <strong>God, you can even use sarcasm online.  
><strong>Wave <strong>Only the best of us can, Honey :P

* * *

><p><strong>xx.d; <strong>Random, pretty weird. Review!


	26. grilled

**xx.d; **Thanks to **Izaackjl**, **cutelittlefreak**, **WelshScot**, **Exploder**, **Ficfan412** and **The Guy in the Background**.

_WelshScot- _Don't you _dare _change your reviews! I love your stories to death and they are _so _entertaining to read!

Enjoi.

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_Grilled_

"Bye Wave!" he yelled, leaning on the door as he watched the Babylon Rogue flick her arm up and disappear between the mountains. He sighed, smiling to himself before an abrupt, female voice clearing her throat startled him.

"Tails?"

"Amy!" he cried, completely forgetting that the hedgehog was there. She'd come half an hour before Wave, and endured being shoved into the background as the two best friends conversed about stuff that she couldn't understand. When would a girl need to know what a 'computational fluid dynamic' is?

"I think you've got a little explaining to do," she replied in a devious tone.

"Yes! I am sorry for forgetting," he said, hushing her momentarily by holding up his forefinger, "I will get to your gear in a second!" he declared as he hopped over a pile of papers that could have been sketches.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no~" she murmured, catching Tails by the scruff of his collar and pulling him back, thoroughly freaking him out, "I meant, what the _hell _is up with you and _Wave_?"

He cocked his head to the side, shrugging his shoulders and pulling up the sleeves on his black chequered flannel, "What'cha mean? We're friends."

"Tails! Denial isn't good for the fur I hear."

"What do you me-_No! _We're not like that," he assured.

She fluttered her eyelashes, "Tails. I'm sorry to say that the way you two act isn't like normal girl/boy friendships."

"Oh?" he replied snippily, crossing his arms over his chest, "Tell me how we're different, oh Great Guru of Love."

Amy huffed, ignoring the personal stab at her own romantic endeavours, "You know, apart from the fact that you were mentally undressing her-"

"I do _not!_"

"Did you realise exactly how much you guys touched each other? How they lingered and traced gently?"

Tails rolled his eyes, "And the way that you _lit up _when she walked into the room, or laughed at your stupid mechanic jokes-Gods, it was so sweet."

"I _don't _like Wave like that. You're just delusional."

"That's good, because she isn't good for you," Amy declared sharply.

"Excuse me?" he replied, a little peeved off by the comment, "How?"

"Well, she still teases you. _And _she's a Babylon Rogue."

"I'm a big boy, I can take it," he replied indignantly, "and are you guys _still _fuming over that fact?" He really thought he'd made the message clear that he wasn't going to deal with any of this prejudice. The Babylon Rogues had been keeping their noses clean… as of late.

"They're nothing but trouble Tails! Thieves! What is it with you and falling in love with the enemy?" she cried, flinging her arms into the air, "First Fiona and now this!"

"Don't bring her up!" he growled, cheeks flushing red in anger and embarrassment, "And Wave is _not _like her!"

"So, you admit it! That you 'like' Wave!" she screeched.

"Ugh. Get out!" he snarled, pointing to the door.

"Why can't you be normal and date someone like-like Nicole or Cream?" she persisted.

"Nicole is obsessed with her job and Cream is six. SIX! Geez Amy."

"Stop defending that Siren, Tails!"

"Your gear will be done in a week Amy, now… go and find Sonic or something!" he demanded, pushing her out the door and closing it behind her. He released a sigh that deflated his entire body and slunk against the wall, cradling his head in his hands.


	27. i told you so

**xx.d; **Guys! I'm running out of prompts! Remember that you're always welcomed to post your ideas up here. I'll adapt them to use them in the fic.

Oh, and if you've posted a prompt way, _way _back and like, _really _want it in the fic you can remind me if you wish. I've been trying to write them down so that I'm remembering them all.

Thanks to **cutelittlefreak**, **Exploder**, **Pirony**, **The Guy in the Background**, **LordCooler** and **WelshScot** for reviewing the last chapter.

_Angel-of-Energy- _I saw Amy as the kind of person that would voice her opinions no matter how much they weren't wanted. She kind of annoys me like that. But I know right? Tails is a total sweetheart :)

_Ficfan412- _Haha, too right!

_(Anonymous)- _That is a sick prompt! Thanks for giving me the idea, I never would have thought of it by myself. And thanks for reviewing; now that could be the idea for the next chapter.

_Ultima- _Amy pretty much approves TailsX(anyone that's not Wave/Sonic or something evil). Doesn't Nicole work to make sure that New Mobotropolis is in perfect working order? I haven't been keeping updates with the Archie comics. Zero One sounds like an awesome idea for Nicole's extreme gear, you might be able to find the picture on Deviant Art somewhere, it totally could happen. Haha.

**Note; **This takes place a _lot _further down the storyline. If you're perceptive enough, you'll see why. Bonus points if you get the outside influences high!Tails is speaking about. And this was inspired because there was a number of people asking for Tails being high on chocolate. Could also be considered as _Popcorn and Chocolate II_

Enjoi.

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_I told you so_

"I said no… there's a reason why no one does it. Thought I must admit there are an adamant few that decide their curiosity is overwhelming," her voice was almost drowned out by constant gush of the diamond waterfalls.

"But-" the green hawk started, letting out a miffed huff when Wave decided to disregard him and continue anyway.

The three Babylon Rogues were hanging out after their daily training, somewhere in the midst of Splash Canyon. Jet had seated himself comfortably onto a tree, lying along the branch with his boot dangling. Storm was leaning against a stone wall while Wave was lying down on a bed of moss.

"It's a bad idea."

"I don't think I've ever instigated though-"

"Don't do it." she growled, closing her eyes.

"And that would be very interesting to watch," he mimicked her, head sliding to the side while his lips turned up in a grin, eyes closing into merry arches.

"You _know _what happens when he eats chocolate. It wouldn't do anyone any good to witness that... again."

"What'cha mean 'again'?" Storm asked, blinking an eye open. It surprised the other two who had assumed the albatross had fallen into an impromptu nap.

Wave sighed, closing her data screen and turning off her computer necklace, "Do you remember that time Tails and I were observing your data, but then he had the sudden unrestrained urge to race?"

"An' beat all of us while we a' it?" Storm replied, growling a little in his throat.

Wave rolled her neck and shifted further into spotted shade, "Exactly. That was an instance where he was under the influence of chocolate. All the food items in his home resembling chocolate is modified cocoa powder to make sure that there isn't enough caffeine to make him go insane, or reserved for me."

"Your little boy toy must think highly of you to keep chocolate in his house specifically reserved for you," Jet cackled evilly, sending a little glare at Storm when he didn't join in. He was otherwise occupied figuring out how something made out of chocolate can be modified to taste like chocolate, but not _be _chocolate.

"Oh shut up. Chocolate is not meant to be healthy for anyone with canine genes anyway," she dismissed the original insult, further insulting Jet.

"Whatever."

"Please tell me you're not going to do it," she murmured, rising from her spot and moving to stand near Jet, leaving Storm in his apparent ponder.

"No, then I'd just be lying to you."

"Please?" she asked, using her most high pitched, innocent voice, normally reserved for when she had no money but wanted gear parts, "For me?"

Jet opened his eyes, staring blankly up at the leaves above him before his irises slid over to her, locking ice blue with sky, "You know that would have worked… three months ago maybe."

"Aww c'mon. Don't bring that up."

"Yer right, I don't have a crush on you any more and you can't manipulate me like you used to."

She looked away, and then looked back, before her stern frown become a small smile, "I'm glad, but… could you-you know-_please _not do it?"

"What's the point in asking?" Storm sighed hopelessly.

She rubbed her eyes, knowing that for once, her colleague had a point.

**x**

She'd warned him not to sneak chocolate into Tails celebratory milkshake, but Jet wasn't really one for listening to logic.

"Come here, Pretty Polly!" Tails screeched across the tracks of Splash Canyon with a giant pair of pliers.

Wave leant against Storm, both of the birds were trying to stop laughing, "I warned him. I so warned him."

Tails was chasing after Jet because he was under the impression that he was creating a dream catcher. Do you know what's the common element in all dream catchers? Feathers! And Tails wanted _green _ones.

"If you give me feathers I'll give you crackers!" the fox screamed, chasing after Jet like some kind of psychopath with pliers instead of a hacking chainsaw. Jet was running around, trying to avoid Tails and working on figuring out where his extreme gear had went.

"Wave?" Storm asked.

"Yep?"

"How long do ya think it's going to take 'til he looses interest in the Boss?"

"Hopefully not soon," she replied, bringing out a camera to record the situation, "because this is going on Youtube."

"I _don't want _your motherfucking crackers!" Jet howled, "I'm not a goddamn parrot!"

"That's _awesome!_" the fox replied, weaving in between Sonic and Knuckles to sprint after the bird, "Nothing goes better with quesadillas than _chicken!_"

Suddenly their laughter could not be contained and Storm and Wave burst into fits of giggles, "This is going to get _so _many hits."

Tails abruptly dropped the pliers and danced over to Rouge who had been enjoying a slurpy on the sidelines with Shadow, he latched onto the side railing and screamed "Hi!"

"Um…" Rouge cocked her head to the side, watching Jet collapse from exhaustion, finally rid of his yellow menace, "Hi Tails!"

"I know a song that Knuckles sings about you!"

Wave turned towards Knuckles who was trying to crab walk off the scene, towards his gear so that he could make a quick exit, "Oh really?"

"_Rouge, Rouge, the bat with big… BOOBS!~"_

Tails spun around the railing like a hyped up ballerina as the slushy cup in her hand was crushed into nothing. Rouge snarled in anger, darting her head around find Knuckles, who had already gone missing.

"Hey-" Shadow growled, getting up in Rouge's defence to punish Tails when the fox shrieked abruptly.

"Get away from me! I might catch your 'emo'!" he giggled before hopping up the railings.

"'Emo' isn't a disease," Sonic commented lightly before Tails landed on his head, balancing his sneakers on Sonic's spikes while Tails bent to look at Sonic upside down.

"Yes it is! Blaze caught it, Silver caught it and now he's trying to infect everyone else!"

Sonic and Tails toppled with surprise, "Goddammit Tails! You're not eight anymore, I can't carry you!"

"You manage to carry that fat pig Amy whenever she gets in trouble!"

"Hey!"

Tails turned to be faced with Amy's piko-piko hammer, but dodged it last second and smirked, eyes going loopy and undiscernible, "Amy's pink! Therefore she's a pig, yaddigg?"

"What does that make everyone else?" she questioned, hammer at the ready.

"Sonic is a fish!"

"What the hell?"

"Knuckles is a vampire!"

"Honestly."

"Shadow is Vincent Valentine!"

"Who?"

"Rouge is 'Big Boob Lady' from the Simpson's Movie!"

"Argh!"

"Amy is a pig!"

"We've already established that."

"Jet's a parrot!"

"That too."

"Storm is a rock!"

"Why?"

"Wave is that sexy mechanic from the Jak and Daxter games!"

"How come _she _gets a good persona!"

"And _I'm _a banana!"

Wave turned around and pounded her fist slightly into Storm's fur, laughing so hard that her sides were going to split. Storm was in a similar state, laughing at how Tails was now dancing in the middle of the track to Gwen Stefani's Holla Back Girl, gyrating and swinging his hips.

_"A few times I've been around that track,_  
><em>So it's not just gonna happen like that.<em>  
><em>Cause I ain't no hollaback girl,<em>  
><em>I ain't no hollaback girl.<em>

_A few times I've been around that track,  
>So it's not just gonna happen like that.<br>Cause I ain't no hollaback girl,  
>I ain't no hollaback girl.<em>

_Let me hear you say, this shhh is bananas:  
>B-A-N-A-N-A-S!<br>This shhh is bananas:  
>B-A-N-A-N-A-S!"<em>

Tails was actually a really good dancer, but his singing could have been improved.

"This is even worst than the Max Brenner incident," Jet sighed, crawling over to his team mates.

In the middle of the track Tails had somehow convinced people to dance and sing along, creating a conga line. This was… disastrous.

"Wave," Jet wheezed, "if you fix this, I promise never to feed Tails chocolate again!"

"Well," she contemplated, delighting in the horrified look that Jet made.

"AH! I FOUND HIM! JETTISON Q. HAWKINGTON!"

"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU IDIOTS: THAT IS _NOT _MY NAME!" he screeched, but he didn't have time to fight long after that because Tails was after him again.

From that day on Jet had never been able to look at pliers the same way again. And if he did forget he'd look back on his tail with three missing feathers... or... you know... Youtube.

**Miles Prower goes Insane at Splash Canyon Air Riding Race- **14, 283, 387 hits.

And then there was Wave, with a swift, "I told you so."

* * *

><p><strong>xx.d; <strong>Does anyone know Bean the dynamite? Somewhere in the latest Sonic Universe issues he called Jet 'Jettison Q. Hawkington' and I thought it was absolutely hilarious. Haha. I love Jet.

Sorry I haven't updated in a bit, I've been working on the major story.

Review!


	28. blackmail ii

**xx.d; **Very quick little thing, while I still have the concept down.

In dedication to _Ultima._

A little Jet/Tails interaction for my benefit. Oh c'mon, the hawk is sexy!_  
><em>

Enjoi.

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_Blackmail II_

Jet snarled at the image of Tails skipping along him happily, complete with that shit-eating grin he'd come to hate.

"I'm just gonna buy your… you-what was it? Electro-swatsits… whatever that thing is, and then we're leaving."

"Gosh, you're no fun… Jettison."

The hawk gasped, making a sound that resembled choking, "Where did you learn that?"

"I was on your zeppelin one time and you'd left your yearbook open on the page of your picture. Pretty darn _stupid_ if I do say so myself," the fox grinned as they made their way into the store, "So now I have something else on you Mr. Jettison Q. Hawkington!"

"Stop it! Even Wave doesn't know that's my real name!" he shushed him.

"What the hell?" Tails laughed, "How?"

"She went to an all girls primary school, and I haven't allowed her to look in the yearbook photos," he explained quickly.

"Can you tell me what the Q stands for?"

"No! Fuck off."

"That's not nice."

"I'm not a very nice person, deal with it," he replied, jerking his thumb in the direction of all of the strange mechanical doohickies. He wasn't going to start asking what the heck they did, because if Tails was anything like Wave he was going to get into a complicated explanation he wasn't interested in.

"Hey Nicole!"

The Hawk followed Tails over to a different section of the store where he hugged a brown lynx in jeans and a purple top.

"Hi Tails how are you?"

"I'm awesome, how have things been at the palace?"

Jet rubbed at his eyes, bored leaning against a shelf, scuffing his boots against the gray floor. The lynx was carrying an extreme gear board but he hadn't seen her in any of his races and she hadn't been around whenever he needed to pick Wave up from Tails' Workshop.

"Who's that with you?"

"Oh this is Jettis-"

"That's not my name!" he yelled in protest, luckily the pumping stereo and moving gears on the other side of the shop drowned him out.

"Whatever. Nicole, this is Jet the par-"

"The Hawk." he corrected viciously, looking the lynx up and down, for some reason she was incredibly familiar.

Tailed rolled his eyes but Nicole's green eyes turned to slits, "_You're _one of the ones that attacked the palace and stole a _lot _of the treasure three weeks back."

Jet smirked, "Prove it, Honey."

Nicole flushed, "I _am _the security system of The Castle of Acorn. And I remember your face stealing those artefacts."

"Well I'm not bending to your will until you show me some proof, so you might wanna scat, Sweet Cheeks."

"Tails; stop hanging out with him!" Nicole growled, stomping away.

"Jet!" Tails growled irritably, "Did you really take that stuff?"

Jet shook his head, not really into the entire situation at all.

"How do I know you're not lying?"

"You don't. It's your choice whether you believe me or not. If ya hadn't realised yet, I don't really care whether you like me fox, I'm just here to appease Wave."

"Yeah, okay, whatever. How are you buying the unit?" the fox asked curiously.

"Well, I'm not stealing it if that's what you're thinking," he answered snippily.

Tails got the… whatever-it-was-called and placed it on the counter, watching curiously as Jet got out the winners grant from the last Grand Prix Tournament and asked the cashier to check it in. Jet rolled his eyes. He'd been planning to use the part of the winners grant to buy Wave some flowers, just like Tails had suggested, but it was all going into whatever the fox's pet project was now. At least the winner's grant would prove to Tails that he hadn't stolen the money that he was paying for his toy with.

In fact, Jet hadn't been stealing at all since Wave had started hanging out with Tails. She was just never around to conduct the heists and Jet was too lazy to figure it out himself.

…

…

He missed her.

And here he was, stuck with the very person who was making Wave unattainable.

"This too," Tails demanded, pushing forward a small tube he'd seen Wave use to increase air capacity.

"Fuck no."

"I'll tell Wave."

He growled, pulling out his wallet, "Ugh, fine."

They exited out the store in silence, but Tails had his attention fixed on the ice cream cart.

"Don't tell me you want that stuff too."

"Ice cream'd be great, but you'd probably just get chocolate to taunt me. I was thinkin' you go to the flower store _behind _that and get a bouquet for Wave."

Jet stared down at the fox cynically before shrugging, "I guess… it's not a bad idea."


	29. i told you so ii

**xx.d; **Okay, so the second last chapter people really seemed to like. I have no idea why, but I can accept that, maybe it's because I have so much fun writing it?

_WelshScot- _Your comic strip is taking a lot more time than I originally assumed. Please give me a little more time? Say, ten chapters?

Thanks to **Smallson S. Spekinton** (lol, it took me a while to figure out who you were), **Angel-of-Energy**, **9string**, **LordCooler**, **xXCookieGiverXx**, **Pixelated Firefly**, **A Ugly faic** and **cutelittlefreak** for reviewing the last chapters.

_Ficfan412- _Dude, I thought your idea was the cutest thing ever, seriously. And yeah, the last time I was reading about Bean, he was serenading to a bomb. That guy is awesome.

_Ultima- _I _love _The Lion King! I'm glad you find it amusing, and that my attempts at humour aren't just try-hard pity laughs. This chapter's for you! I didn't want Wave with them so that the boys could bond, but now that I think of it… I HAVE ANOTHER IDEA FOR A PROMPT! Thanks, oh wow, you didn't even do anything this time. You're so inspiring :) I noticed that you review for _Ask Tails Doll_ by **Infamousplot**, you ask a lot of weird, amusing questions.

**Enjoi.**

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_I told you so II_

Tails took pride in the fact that he was the kind of person that people entrusted secrets to. He really didn't understand why his personality entitled this kind of behaviour. Wasn't really aware why his friends believed him to be the most trustworthy one, but for some reason he was and was the bank in which most people decided to keep their deepest confessions when they were feeling troubled. And thus it was a bad idea to ever _cross _Tails, because if someone hadn't specifically told them their secret, somebody _else _had.

Sonic _and _Jet had made the mistake of trusting them, whether by accident or not, with their real names and a few other weaknesses, some of which were blatantly obvious in the first place, others not.

Cream had admitted some naughty things her mother would not approve of… and so had Amy.

Wave had entrusted some deep things that she would regret telling him when he was old enough to drink wine.

Knuckles had said some things that he would admit; he wouldn't be willing to repeat.

Tails had recently found herself aggravated at his blue best friend for bringing up a certain… _crush _he might have had a long time ago, and how _childish _he might have acted about it, unleashing the hell that is Tails' wrath. And Knuckles, being the apparent codfish that he was, had decided to agree with Sonic and that statement.

When Tails was very young, he discovered a like of horror stories, and thus Eggman's Tails Doll didn't affect him in the slightest. In fact, he found the doll's apparent need for affection endearing, however he couldn't be reprogrammed and thus lies somewhere in the Egg Fortress, possibly even decommissioned permanently. Tails had brought it upon himself to make a replica, messy stitching and all, just to practice his sowing skills.

They were a little better than Eggman's and thus, Tail's Doll 2 was born, but Tails had affectionately named it 2D. Sonic however, had been frightened by the entire experience, because the blue hedgehog, unfortunately, was _incredibly _superstitious, and _hated _Tails Doll.

That was some background information that would have come in handy. Along with the fact that Knuckles was afraid of pirates. So you could imagine Wave's reaction upon finding Tails in his workshop to see the fox decked out in an outfit similar to Jack Sparrows. She had to admit it looked rather fetching on the fox, but the entire façade was very confusing.

There he was, complete with fingerless gloves, knee-length trench coat and sharpened cutlass. To complete the threatening look he had the antennae of a small little stuffed toy in between his teeth while he tightened the belt around his thigh-length blouse.

"What the hell are you doing?" she asked, unsure whether she should be shocked into horror or laughter. Tails raised his head, weighed down by the large pirate hate shadowing his bangs.

"Ah, Lass, be a helpin' hand and gift me with a board inconceivable from the metal heap yonder?" he scuffed his boots against the concrete.

"What the fuck are you saying Tails?"

"Sorry," he grinned, waving his gloved hands at her, "I mean could you get me an air board that hasn't been painted or maintained yet?"

"Why?"

"Because Knuckles is afraid of pirates?"

"Oh dear lord."

Tails went about explaining that he was going to soon figure out who spiked his drink. Seeing as the three men in proximity to his milkshake were Sonic, Jet and Knuckles he was going to figure out who it was through interrogation and… blackmail.

"Wave do you know what Jet's afraid of?"

"Is that a rhetorical question?"

"No, I would seriously like to know."

"I think that its better I not say it."

"As you wish," Tails picked up a water gun and hung its reserves on his side, carrying 2D in the crook of his arm. He picked up a phone and put on a Darth Vader mask, dialling Sonic's number. He was a pirate. Riding extreme gear. With a doll. And a water gun. _Wearing _a _Darth Vader _mask. Something was definitely wrong with Tails. Maybe the chocolate hadn't worn off yet.

"_Yo?"_ she heard the Blue Blur answer.

"Do not go to Aquatic Capital today," Tails said into the device, hanging up instantly, voice disguised. The fox turned to her, taking off the pirate hat and throwing it in her direction, "Do you want to come with?"

This looked like it was going to get out of hand. Perhaps she should have just admitted that it was Jet that had spiked his drink, but this _could _prove to be entertaining. And possibly Youtube worthy.

"Sure."

"You know I wouldn't really have to do this if they wouldn't fess up-unless _you_ know who it was Wave? It would be better to tell me now."

She should tell the truth.

She would.

It was the right thing to do.

Right?

"Nope!"

Dammit.

* * *

><p><strong>xx.d; <strong>Ladies and gentlemen, it seems we have another arc on our hands.


	30. i told you so iii Sonic

**xx.d; **I'll be doing replies soon, just… maybe not yet.

Thanks to **Ficfan412**, **LordCooler**, **brave kid**, **WelshScot**, **Ultima**, **A Ugly faic** and **Exploder** for reviewing the last chapter.

**Enjoi.**

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_I told you so III_

They'd landed near the forest, discarding their gears and sneaking closer to their slumbering blue friend. Tails dug into his pocket and pulled out…

Wave gasped.

It was a chocolate bar.

And he was slowly raising it to his lips.

Her hand shot out and snatched it, giving him a wide eyed scared look, "What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm scariest when I'm on chocolate yes? I'm the most daring when under its influences. It isn't going to work without it. I've read the nutrients information and limited the amount of cocoa to control the caffeine expulsion in my system, so the high should last around fifteen minutes," Tails explained, grabbing for the chocolate again, and this time succeeding, but Wave knocked it out of his hand again.

He rolled his eyes and stared at the bar, lamenting.

He brought out the 2D and pulled a small little strand that was next to invisible from the doll's back and started to rotate his tails to get him into the tree and onto the branch above Sonic. 2D's little body now dangled in front of Sonic's nose, his cute little white belly knocking his snout.

Wave settled into the bushes so that she could still record Sonic's reaction.

His eyelids fluttered but they failed to open, and he batted Tails Doll 2 away with force that brought him upon the hedgehog harder than before. Sonic was startled awake, and when his emerald eyes flew open, so did the loudest girlish scream that Wave had _ever _heard.

"Get the fuck _away_ from me!" Sonic scrambled out of the dolls was, but Tails Doll 2 followed him.

"Sonic, you have irritated one of your best friends." Oh, Tails was using the voice disguiser again.

"Oh come one!" Sonic replied to the doll in irritation, "I annoy Amy all the time! It's not my fault she doesn't get the point."

"Not Amy."

"…Shadow?"

"No."

"… Blaze?"

"God, you're such an idiot; Tails!"

Sonic grinned cheesily and clicked his fingers, "Yeah, that would explain it."

Tails Doll flew forward so that he almost touched Sonic's nose, making the hedgehog scream again.

"Please don't eat my soul!"

"You must _apologise _to _Tails _for bringing up his past romantic endeavours."

"Wha-Fiona?"

For mentioning her name, Sonic received a gushing squirt from the tree above him, but he decided it was all 2D's doing and continued to bury himself into the tree.

"What about his _current _romantic endeavours?"

Another squirt.

"How come you don't want me screaming to the world that Tails has a _crush _on W-!"

The entire water gun fell on top of Sonic's head.

What did Sonic just say? Wave sighed disappointedly. She couldn't hear that well from her vantage point.

"Do not speak of she-who-must-not-be-named!"

"Tails…" Sonic murmured into the bushes, but then he looked up and screamed into the tree, "You and your _stupid, nerdy _Harry Potter obsession!"

Tails fell from the bough of the trees with Tails Doll 2 landing neatly in his hands, "You're right. I just wanted to get revenge for you _treating me like a kid __**again**__!_"

"You _are _a kid!"

"Says the person afraid of this!" Tails shoved the doll in Sonic's face and he still screamed, Wave was having the time of her life.

"It's creepy!"

"You're just being a wuss!"

"Give it to me! I can handle it just fine!" Tails dropped the doll in Sonic's waiting hand, but the hedgehog kept it as far away from him as possible.

"Pussy."

Tails mouth hadn't moved, but his voice was coming out of the doll, clear as day. Sonic brought it closer to him, and squished it, making sure that there was no technology inside.

"Haha," he laughed nervously, "neat trick Tails."

"What trick?"

Tails Doll 2 had been lying limp in Sonic's hand, but in an instant, its head was up and there was a creepy stitched mouth grinning at him. Sonic screeched, dropped it and dashed away as quickly as possible.

Tails looked down, the pirate staring down at the doll. Wave was still laughing when she appeared from the bushed and joined Tails.

"Wave?"

She stopped laughing, wiping a tear from her eyes, "Yeah?"

"That wasn't supposed to happen."

"…You're joking."

"I'm not," he replied, shaking his head.

They stared at the doll a little more, its head turned on the side, it's limbs in a strange disfigurement.

And then.

It moved.

Jerking its head towards the two riders.

Smiling.

They didn't need any more convincing. They ran away screaming at the top of their lungs.


	31. gentleman

**xx.d; **I will write this chapter in the name of deliciousness! Has anyone read the 'Romantically Apocalyptic' comics? They're _hilarious. _

I'm taking a little break from the 'I told you so' arc to write something a little… different. I'm not in the mood for writing humour.

Thanks to **cutelittlefreak**, **Izaackjl**, **Pixelated Firefly**, **A Ugly faic**, **Exploder**, **Ficfan412**, **The Guy in the Background**, **Angel-of-Energy**, **LordCooler**, **Ultima **and **WelshScot** (biggest damn review I have _ever_ received) for reviewing the last chapter.

**Author would like you to note; **that this chapter takes place _before _the first chapter. Yeah, you heard me. _Before _even the beginning, oh, and it probably finished _after _the last one. Exciting ne? A little experiment for me.

**Enjoi.**

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_Gentleman_

She'd never really understood the logistics behind the simple fact that she was treated as more of a guy than a girl, not until she encountered Sonic and his friends.

She saw Amy with her pink clothing and red dresses, she saw Rouge with her atrociously revealing feminine attire, and then she saw Blaze with her beautiful flouncing ponytail and cute kitten heels. And then she understood why the boys never liked her when she was little, during puberty no boy would approach her as a lady because she never really acted like one, and she was too much like them.

Since she was little it had been Jet and Storm, climbing trees, playing soccer and riding extreme gear. Eighth grade had been hell, she'd been constantly accused of being a slut for hanging out with guys because she didn't want to speak about bras and dating and sex. She was the typical misjudged genius, suffering through her education because she was the person her guy friends would confide in.

But that was a story for another day, at the moment she was still focusing on something else.

From the moment that she met Tails she knew something was drastically different about him compared to all the people that he liked to hang out with. But didn't realise exactly _how _different until they started to race against each other.

It started when they were entering into a race and they were confronted by the heavy, grimy doors to enter the arena he'd heave open the door, and _hold it for her_.

**x**

The riders and the rogues had been filing onto Metal City's race track, Tails the last of his team to pass the door, heaved it open and held it for her. Wave stopped in her tracks, raising her eyebrow in interest, "What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm holding… the door for you?" he asked, a little perplexed at the question.

"Wave, stop holding it up," Storm complained, shoving past her. Jet followed suit, nudging Tails shoulder on the way.

"Why would you do that?" she asked, crossing her hands over her chest.

Tails shrugged, pushing up his oversized goggles, "I don't know, I was just raised that way. Haven't you ever had a guy hold the door open for you?" the last note was said with something like amusement.

She huffed, blushing lightly as she stormed through with the fox on her heels.

**x**

And there were a whole lot more instances after that that made her wonder about her gender. One of them would be their various visits to Twinkle Park after they became friends, and how it was always 'Ladies first'.

Enter a restaurant; 'Ladies first'.

Getting out the ice cream; 'Ladies first'.

Picking out the movies for their lazy Saturday nights… yep; 'Ladies first'.

The first time he'd said it, she'd thought that he was teasing her and almost punched him in the face.

**x**

Despite the fact that he did swear and occasionally humiliate his elders, he was always respectful and never deliberately crossed the line with them. She'd never met another person so unintentionally kind hearted before, while still keeping that sense of realism about them.

One of the reasons she decided she hated Cream the rabbit.

**x**

He was _always _willing to help her out, even after the so many times she insisted that he didn't. And _especially _after he got hurt for it.

**x**

How he didn't question her practicality in her clothing.

Rouge had near violated her, dragged her from the safety of the workshop and dressed her up like a Barbie doll. So she returned, or rather clawed back to Mystic Ruins in a thigh high dress with white frills and lacking the safety of her bandana. She couldn't ride for _shit _in her new heels, but Rouge was content in her new appearance.

Wave appeared at the door, very close to twisting her ankles in her nine inch platforms, and her fringe drooping her front of her eyes.

"Oh Tails!~" Rouge sang from the doorway, "Aren't you going to comment on how _pretty _Wave looks?"

Tails looked up from his sketchpad and shrugged before returning to his pencils. For a moment Wave felt like crying. Sure, she hated dressing this way, but she didn't think she looked terrible.

"What do you mean?" Rouge growled in annoyance. The fox looked up again and dropped his pencils, cradling his chin in one of his hands.

"How are you going to help me fix the oil components with that dress? Or fetch pizza?"

Rouge scoffed, clearly miffed that her work was being so easily discarded, "How can you deny this change is better?"

Tails rubbed at his eyes tiredly, "I'll approve of the look when you look _happy _Wave. I've seen you do nothing but grimace since you came in."

Rouge sighed and stomped outside.

Sky blue eyes rolled and Tails stood up, walking over, "The dress is nice Wave, but you're _beautiful _when you smile, no matter what you're wearing."

She thinks that _could _have been the moment she fell in love with him.

**x**

When they started dating, when he was around fifteen he gifted her with flowers _just because _he wanted to, despite the fact that she never had the time to take care of them and obviously didn't care for their health as much as he did.

He left sweet messages on his sketches for her, on the fridge, on the pillow, wherever he thought she would find them which really delighted her when she was having a bad day.

And he kissed her, not because he had to but because he _felt _like it.

**x**

She didn't realise it until he was sixteen himself, but Tails had been standing up to Jet for her since she herself was sixteen. It was mind boggling, exactly how long the hawk had been teasing her, and how long Tails had fought, despite Jet being older and stronger.

**x**

She knew it didn't exactly account to being a gentleman, but no one had been spooned properly until they were surrounded by two fluffy fox tails.

**x**

Tails wasn't the textbook definition of a gentleman; as soon as he was old enough he drank and tried cigarettes, he swore at her occasionally, and swore at his friends even more. He left dirty undies all over the floor and accidentally used one of her tops as a motor rag. But she accepted his unorthodox qualities as a gentleman because he accepted her unorthodox qualities as a female.

It was a little known fact that they were completely perfect for each other.

* * *

><p><strong>xx.d; <strong>Yay! We have some previews for the next chapters. Kinda… I'm not sure about this one, why don't you tell me what you think about this?


	32. i told you so iv Knuckles

**xx.d; **This chapter feels a little iffy to me, whatever. Writing with Knuckles has always been a little difficult with me.

Thanks to **Spadework2**, **Exploder**, **A Ugly faic**, **Angel-of-Energy**, **LordCooler**, **Pixelated Firefly**, **Ficfan412**, **Ultima** and **cutelittlefreak** for reviewing the last chapter.

_Ultima- _Oh goodness, I heard about 'Miley' from **Infamousplot **please do not unleash her on this story; she might scar some of the children in this fic. *blatantly ignores Tails screaming that he's not a child*

_Ficfan412- _Don't worry, a lot of people didn't like the idea of Tails drinking or smoking. People still want to cling to the Tails that cuddly and adorable, even though mine's a little edgier and swears a lot more. I'll use your idea probably for the next chapter or once this arc is over. It's only got one chapter left.

Y'all should read _Tails' Luck_ by **Skullfox **if you've got the stomach for it. It's where I got the inspiration for an older, gutsier Tails. The rest of the inspiration for his personality was taken from Kingdom Hearts fanfics with incredibly skilled authors.

**Enjoi.**

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_I told you so IV_

"There he is! The hooligan! The scallywag! There be the man which contaminated my heady victory cheer!" Tails declared, hopping of his extreme gear and pointing in Knuckles direction, sitting atop the Mystic Ruins altar, dozing off against the master emerald.

"Tails, I think you're getting a little too invol-"

"Silence Wench!" he demanded.

"Wha-? Is that another _chocolate bar! WHERE DID YOU GET IT?_"

"I'll have that confession yet! No more blundering my rum!"

"IT WASN'T EVEN RUM! IT WAS A _MILKSHAKE! _NOW PLEASE _DON'T EAT THAT!_"

Unfortunately, Wave was too late and Tails took the last bite of a cocoa controlled chocolate bar, effectively starting the process of the apocalypse.

He grinned manically at her, not unlike the way a _certain doll_ had been looking at her half an hour ago. Tails smirked as he rode up the stairs of the altar and discarded the gear at the top, crawling on his knees so he was right by Knuckles ear before he heaved in a breath and started to whisper sing.

"_Yo ho, yo ho, a pirates life for me."_

Knuckles' peaceful expression turned sour as he creased his eyebrows and groaned quietly in his sleep, turning on his side so that he faced Tails.

"_We pillage, we plunder, we rifle, and loot,  
>Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho."<em>

"No, no… not pirates…" Knuckles murmured.

"_We kidnap and ravage and don't give a hoot,  
>Drink up me 'earties, yo ho."<em>

"Don't steal my precious M.E."

_M.E? _Wave wondered as she approached the scene, before realising they were the initials for the Master Emerald.

"_Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me."_

The red echidna was jostled awake, and abruptly screamed like a little girl. Knuckles crawled away and got to his feet, before stumbling down the stairs. Tails chased after him with a cutlass. Wave sat idly by and wondered what Tails chocolate tasted like.

When Tails was chasing Knuckles up the altar again, Wave was wondering if Tails had made any more of the stuff.

When Tails was shouting obscenities about toilet brushes, candy necklaces and fish fingers she was thinking about how one would removed the cocoa concentrate in an already established chocolate bar.

When Knuckles was begging for mercy from the makeshift pirate she was staring off into the distance wondering what she was going to have for lunch.

"Be still you filthy cur, so I can be away with you! Consider it a fitting punishment, suitable recompense for the ruination of my reputation."

"What the _hell _did you just say?"

Wave giggled, flouncing up to the two boys and waving her hands, "I don't know if this is the exact translation but he said something along the lines of 'this is what you get for spiking me drink.'" Tails looked so angry a vein was going to pop, the pirate hat falling to the ground.

"I didn't spike your drink!"

Only because Tails was high on chocolate did that not make sense to him.

"You're still a nuisance!" Tails screeched.

"And you're still an annoying kid!" Knuckles protested.

"And you're both immature boys!" Wave yelled over the both of them.

"And you're _all _going to _die!_"

The three looked around confused, it sounded like Tails had said something but his mouth… his mouth… his mouth hadn't… moved…

"_Can you feel the sunshine?"_

NO!

_"CAN YOU FEEL THE SUNSHINE?"_

The all looked up and, clear as day; sitting on the Master Emerald was the Tails Doll 2 with a half eaten bar of chocolate in his hand… and… And… AND… _AND!_

"HE'S WEARING A _PIRATE_ HAT!" Knuckles screeched, pointing with a look of the utmost terror, because sitting on Tails Doll 2's head was Tails fallen pirate hat.

All thought of revenge was lost as the three ran off into the sunset…

Away from a murderous doll that would sooner eat their souls.

* * *

><p><strong>xx.d; <strong>Tails Doll + Chocolate is for **Welshscot **coz he's awesome :)

Guess who's next?

**ღ**


	33. i told you so v Jet

**xx.d; **The final piece of the 'I told you so' Arc. I'm writing this by candle light drinking apple juice out of a wine glass so I look 'sophisticated'. Hells yeah!

Thanks to **A Ugly faic**, **Izaackj**l, **ChaoCream**, **The Guy in the Background**, **Ficfan412**, **LordCooler** and **Ultima** for reviewing the last chapter.

**Enjoi.**

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_I told you so V_

"If I ever see that motherfucking doll again-"

The two riders sighed when they reached the zeppelin, discarding their gear by the doors. Wave stalked towards their living room and stretched, popping bones sore from riding too long. Tails watched in silence, the curves and dips of her athletic body ignited something strange and foreign in him.

He knew what it was instantly, but he didn't want to acknowledge it. Unfortunately the chocolate in his system pushed Tails back when trying to take control over his own body and he tackled Wave onto the couch.

"What the hell are you do-?"

"Stop _right _there you horny little bastard!" Jet growled, appearing out of the hallway. It's a good thing that when Tails was high on chocolate, he preferred confrontation over romancing. That could have been _awkward._

Tails jumped up and folded his arms over the back of the couch, purring his answer, "Well if it isn't _Jettison Q. Hawkington_."

Wave perked up at the name, pushing Tails off her and leaning over the edge of the couch back, "Hey Jet? Why do people keep calling you that?"

The hawk shrugged nervously, "I have no idea."

"We know perfectly well _why._" the fox lowered his eyebrows, his voice becoming sultry and mischievous.

"For fucks sake," the hawk growled, throwing his hands up into the air before turning back and pointing to the fox, "he's high on _chocolate _isn't he?"

"…_maybe,_" Wave grinned, flipping her head innocently.

"And that's liability enough for him to molest you?"

Tails hopped onto the couch so he was now sitting on the edge of the sofa's back, his voice going deep and tantalising, "What's wrong Jetty-boy? Jealous?"

The hawk stayed silent for the longest time before he opened his mouth and let loose a high screech, "_NO!_"

Wave shook as her giggles overtook her, and the abject rejection was enough to spur Tails on.

"And _especially _not of you."

The fox jumped of the sofa and stepped a little further forward, shimmying his chest, "I wasn't talkin' about Wave."

Jet's cheeks flared at the flirtatious fox's advances, "Yo-you, … you… y-"

"I'm flattered that you're lookin' for a little twin-tail-lovin' in your life, Sugar," Tails winked and Jet gawked, making noises that sounded suspiciously like choking. The fox deduced that Jet had a crippling case of homophobia.

Wave and Tails' heads followed an awkward ark as the hawk proceeded to choke on his own tongue.

The purple swallow hopped over the sofa and bent down to poke Jet in the chest, receiving no response from the paralysed hawk.

"I think you broke him."

"Nonsense!" he skipped over to Jet's body and kicked his shin.

Wave turned around, sniffing a little, "Can you smell that? It's horrible."

"Maybe Jet farted," Tails giggled.

"It smells more like grass."

"Who knows what he eats in his spare time," Tails argued.

"Stop being ridiculous."

The fox blatantly ignored her, "I mean, they don't call him the 'Legendary Wind Master' for nothing, eh?"

Wave kept on sniffing, but Tails kicked the hawks supposed corpse in curiosity, "How am I supposed to ask him if he spiked my drink now?"

"Don't worry; Jet spiked your drink."

Both of the mechanics looked around, wondering where the answer had come from and then…

There it was.

Peeking out from behind the couch.

Tails Doll 2 was peeking out from behind the couch, dirty and covered in grass, but still there.

Tails wondered absently why he ever created the doll.

The little doll covered his mouth as his shoulders shook, it was as if he was laughing, "See Wave? _He told you so!_"

The fox turned to Wave and shrugged, "The murderous doll has a point. I told you so, and now we're going to die at his chocolate soaked hands." he said this all in monotone.

"Shut up Tails!"

They both turned back to the doll, hiding behind Jet's (seemingly dead) body, and Tails thought that this might have been the real reason why the speedster had choked on his tongue in the first place; because he had seen the doll.

"_So… Can you feel the sunshine yet?"_

* * *

><p><strong>xx.d; <strong>So how many of you like _cliffhangers? _That's awesome because you have absolutely _no idea _when Tails Doll will appear next in the series. He'll be making random appearances, and sometimes, I won't even mention his name, you just have to look out for the clues. I'll be doing this until October, where you can look forward to another Tails Doll Arc.

Kay?

Okay.

Review!


	34. compatible

**xx.d; **Thanks to **Ficfan421** for the prompt!

Thanks to **ChaoCream**, **SmallSpek**, **WelshScot**, **A Ugly** **faic**, **Exploder**, **LordCooler**, **The Guy in the Background**, **Ficfan412**, **Ultima**, **Ember113** and **Izaackjl** for reviewing the last few chapters.

**Note; **Half of these questions were stolen from my cousin's eHarmony account. He didn't appreciate me messing around with it. And this story takes place around a year into their friendship.

**Enjoi.**

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_Compatible_

_Self Descriptions… Oh Gods this is boring. Why did I ever let Sonic talk me into this? I am _perfectly _capable of finding a girlfriend by myself, and not on some shitty website. _

Please tick the boxes of the description most suitable to you.

_I mean honestly, I'm thirteen years old. I feel so pathetic for subjecting myself to this…_

1. Impulsive

_No._

2. Stable

_No._

3. Energetic

_Eugh… maybe… but the circumstances requiring such enthusiasm are doubtful and often embarrassing. _

4. Spiritual

_Not really._

5. Adventuresome

_Yes… I'd say so._

6. Frugal

_Um… no…_

7. Predictable

… _Yes? No. Actually no, I wouldn't say so._

8. Affectionate

_Yes!_

9. Organized

_Haha, no._

10. Intelligent

_Finally, something I can agree to._

11. Compassionate

_Yes?_

12. Attractive

_This is getting annoying. At my age overall appearance hasn't developed. Wait a second, how do I know there aren't a whole lot of other girls my age on this? This is stupid._

13. Loyal

_Yes._

14. Witty

_On my good days._

15. Neat

_Oh hell no._

His eyes were sliding slut as he drummed the edge of his desk with his fingertips, clicking question after useless question. He'd only agreed to go along with Sonic's stupid idea because it was raining outside and he was bored, he'd gotten tired of tinkering with his tools and watching TV, plus anything that he normally did on the internet including reading manga and fanfictions.

He didn't really want to focus on this right now… romancing with another girl. Not when he was… particularly… unsure of his feelings towards another female.

Please tick the boxes of the descriptions most suitable to your ideal mate?

1. Self-aware

_Sure._

2. Competitive

_Yes._

3. Over-Achiever

_Well… I wouldn't say that. _

4. Vivacious

_Yeah, sure._

5. Wise

_Not necessarily._

6. Bossy

_Preferably. Considering the fact that nothing really gets done around my place without Wave there. _

7. Leader

_No._

8. Irritable

_Hopefully not. Why would someone even want that quality?_

9. Show-off

_No._

10. Independent

_Yes._

11. Kind

_Yes please._

12. Calm

_Sure, why not?_

13. Courageous

_No necessary._

14. Aggressive

_Sexy. Yes please._

15. Persistent

_Yep!_

Enter.

Loading…

Tails opened a new tab and looked up movies playing in the nearest cinemas, thinking about catching a flick later with Wave.

**348 **matches.

**5 **matches available online now.

Tails was about to log out and tell Sonic he'd had enough for the day, show him his progress tomorrow. He rolled his neck, bones stiff in an attempt to move again. But as soon as his cursor hovered over the button, a chat window opened up in the bottom of the screen.

**windcadence- **What kind of poor unfortunate soul happened upon my profile?

_Should I call Wave now?... Or should I speak to this girl a little more, I like her username._

**veloce- **Apparently my kind of unfortunate soul.

**windcadence- **Wow. Charming :P

**veloce- **I try. Do you know if this dating scam actually works?

**windcadence- **How would I know doofus? I'm still here am I?

**veloce- **My apologies. Obviously this site is a sham if a lady so eloquent as yourself hasn't found someone willing to share your company.

**windcadence- **You're a shit talking, sarcastic little brat aren't you?

Tails laughed, leaning his cheek into his hand as he rolled his eyes at the screen. He picked up his phone and texted Wave, asking her if she wanted to see a movie.

**veloce- **You remind me of my best friend, she's a sad little trash-talker too.

**windcadence- **Well if you're so enchanted by her presence then why aren't you dating her?

Tails tapped his head, brushing his bangs out of his eyes, honestly thinking about it.

**veloce- **She's older than me, and treats me like a little brother.

**windcadence- **… You remind me of _my _best friend. Cute little guy, tampers with mechanics a lot.

**veloce- **You don't sound like you think of him as a friend.

**windcadence- **It's because sometimes I don't.

**veloce- **Why are you on this site?

**windcadence- **For the same reason as you I suppose.

**veloce- **Forced?

**windcadence- **Bingo.

His phone vibrated across the table, and he picked it up, unlocking the contents.

_Wave- _Sure. Give me some time, having an interesting chat. I'll be over in a bit.

**windcadence- **You like mechanics?

**veloce- **I dabble. Do you like extreme gear?

**windcadence- **I live for it!

**veloce- **Really?

**windcadence- **Gods… we really are compatible.

**veloce- **You? Kind, calm and vivacious?

**windcadence- **The type like your big sister I assume? And I'm to believe you're compassionate, witty and affectionate?

**veloce- **… You're a bitch.

**windcadence- **You really are, _too kind_. I'm sorry Sweetheart but I've got a date with the real world.

Tails typed with vigor, having mixed feelings about the person on the other end of this conversation.

**veloce- **As luck would have it, so would I.

The fox growled, logging out. He was about to close the window when there was a knock at the door and he pushed out of the computer chair to usher Wave inside.

"Sorry Tails, I'm soaking," she laughed lightly, "It wasn't raining in my part of New Mobotropolis when I got the message."

"I'll get you one of my hoodies," he offered, trampling up the stairs. While he was searching around for the smallest of his jackets he seriously thought about what 'windcadence' had said, her thoughts about him liking someone older. When he did skitter back down Wave was regarding the sites that he had been on with interest. He gave out a nervous yelp and pushed her away from the computer, "Why are you so nosey?"

"What are you hiding, Kitty?" she grinned, her eyes regarding him with a sweet kind of mischief.

"Nothing of interest," he assured her, pulling on his own jacket and closing the door behind them. Before she started her extreme gear the swallow looked down at the ground puzzled, and Tails followed her expression with interest, "What's wrong?"

Wave cocked her hip to the side, resting her hand on it, "Do you think age is a huge factor in compatibility?"

Tails grinned, lips curving up mischievously, "Rouge has fallen in love with the Ultimate Life Form, someone who is technically around 50 years old. Amy's been chasing Sonic who's around six years her senior. Romance knows no bounds but chemistry I think."

"That's pretty deep Tails."

"Oops, then I've said something wrong or suspicious," he laughed, grinning when she joined in.

"Yeah, something accommodating the reason as to why you were on eHarmony?"

"For the same reason you think I suppose."

Wave gave him a weird look, narrowing her eyes as she kicked her board down and stepped onto it, "Forced?"

Tails looked away, kicking down his board as well…

_Bingo._


	35. premonition

**xx.d; **Just a small post to get most of your attention(I'M LAAAZZZY!). I'll return to normal stuff soon, I'm just tired and cranky atm because I've spent the last several hours colouring in.

To **Welshcot**, your comic strip is done! Everyone is welcomed to look at it, there should be a link on my profile.

**Enjoi.**

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_Premoniton_

"Can you feel him? I can fell those eyes on my Wave, burning into my skin."

"He's gone, don't worry about it. Go to sleep."

A head hit the pillow.

There was a rustling of branches.

A frightened jerk and he hit his head on the side of her bed.

_"Shit!"_

"Alright there Kitty?"

"No! I'm still paranoid! How can you just... just _sleep _when you know he's out there somewhere?"

A yawn.

"He seemed more lonely than anything else, don't you think?"

A shake.

A sigh.

A red light in the corner blinks.

Tails screams.

"For the love of-Tails! It's my phone charger! It's telling me the battery's full!"

"Oh gods!" he cried.

"Come over here..."

Her voice is gentle... but...

"What if he's under the covers?"

A yank.

A cry of pain.

A dragging noise.

Shuffling in the blankets.

"Is that better?"

"Being smushed up against your chest is supposed to make things _better_?"

"Wanna go one-on-one with the doll?"

"..."

"I thought so. Now try to go to sleep."

And a few hours later... he did.

Thank goodness he didn't witness the 'phone charger' hum _Can you feel the sunshine? _as it bopped it's way out the door.


	36. running jokes ii

**xx.d; **Alright, I'm in higher spirits and my hand has recovered from my crazy art throttle. Time for some comedy! Or my shitty attempt at it… whatever :P

OMFG! 300 reviews! Thank you guys so much and I love you all to death! I honestly never thought this story would never become this popular, but you guys have proved me wrong with your loyalty and continuous praise.

Since **miss-monochrome **(the 300th) reviewer, is a r/l friend, I'll probably be buying her ice cream or something. But look forward to the 40th chapter, where I'll ask a question so that you can receive your own celebratory Sonic Riders gift art from your truly.

Thanks to **Ficfan412**, **Ultima**, **Izaackjl**, **Exploder**, **A Ugly faic**, **Hookemhorns12**, **kobiee** and **little-miss-monochrome** for reviewing the last chapter.

**Enjoi.**

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_Running Jokes II_

She honestly thought they'd left this stupid rivalry behind, and that Bean and Bark would _not _take out their boredom and irritation on her best friend. Poor unfortunate Tails did not know what was coming to him when the bird and polar bear appeared before his workshop requesting his assistance with extreme gear.

Turns out both were still pretty annoyed at them for loosing the Sol emerald which would be their instant ticket to richness, and thus continued to irritated her now… well… Bean anyway, Bark just watched his friend in the corner, making sure he didn't cause any _life threatening _brain damage. Obviously any other attempt would simply prove the make the birds ADHD worst.

So now she sat next to the bear, figuring out what she was going to say to Tails when he woke up from his sugar hangover… and why his guitar was filled to the brim with chocolate pudding.

Why did Tails never learn that he shouldn't just keep his coffee lying around the workshop? Does he know how easy his cup is to _spike?_

Tails and Bean frolicked gaily, the fox wearing a tiara and Bean wearing a dress that was obviously stolen from Cream. The horrible thing was, Bean wasn't even intoxicated. She'd learnt to stay away from him during her times in the Battle Bird Armada, but apparently, she attracted weirdos like flies.

She was stuck in the middle of pondering when a huge lump of slimy green spaghetti was heaped onto her head, the slick nature snapping her out of her thoughts, " _Fu-_WHAT IS THIS?"

Tails laughed merrily proceeding to sing some song she had heard in her infantile years while dancing atop his work bench, doing the Macarena. She watched Bean join him a moment later, singing something about pizzas.

"_Some salami and zucchini and a lots of mozzarella._

_Some salami and zucchini and a lots of mozzarella._

_Some salami and zucchini and a lots of mozzarella."_

She couldn't help herself, getting out her phone she videoed them, wondering if this was going to get her as many hits as the Splash Canyon incident.

"_Pizza! Pizza! Pizza,_

_It's a lotsa lotsa fun!_

_Pizza! Pizza! Pizza!_

_It's a lotsa lotsa fun! Hey!"_

There was a knock at the garage door and after a few moments Rouge, Shadow and Sonic walked in. After taking a glance at the situation and coming to his own deductions he about-faced and started running away. Unfortunately for him, Tails slammed a conveniently placed button on the wall, effectively locking the door.

Sonic sighed and indirectly shuffled to the side, using Shadow as a furry shield. Tails grinned maniacally, stroking a random plush toy as he seated himself in one of his lounge chairs, "You can't escape _this time _Sonic. I believe it's time for you to get reacquainted with… _my toaster!_"

Dropping the toy, he pounced forward and dragged Sonic by the leg into the kitchen proceeding to make inhumane shrieks, leaving scratched lines in the floor where he'd tried to grab onto something while Rouge and Shadow looked on… horrified. They turned back to Wave who was recording their fearful expressions with glee. Bark was leafing through one of Tails novels.

Bean latched onto Rouge's leg, proceeding to draw over her white boots with a green permanent texta. She didn't notice though, she was too busy staring at the wall that separated them with the kitchen. Sonic released one final yowl before he was silenced and Tails returned, snapping his gloves onto his hands covered with a red substance that _did not _look like paint, _"Who's next?"_

Rouge released a very uncharacteristic sob, clutching onto Shadow nearly tripping over her boots (now apparently 'Property of the Fridge Goblin').

Bean was standing next to shadow, holding his hand over his heart and drooping his head, as if someone had been-or is close to getting-killed. He spoke in a solemn voice, grabbing Shadow's hands and holding them comfortingly in his own, "Mate… you might need this."

Shadow's attention was turned to Tails, who's evil grin was getting wider as he approached the two shaking gun agents before Wave realised something. She ducked under the bed and hoped for the best, Bark was already there. Shadow unfortunately realised far too late that-

"_DID YOU JUST GIVE ME A LIT BOM-!"_

_BOOM!_

And under the bed, sharing it now with Bark she mused out loud after the initial earthquake, "What am I going to tell Tails when he sees this tomorrow?"

Bark rolled his eyes and pointed to Beans flopping carcass, murmuring something about 'bombs' and 'booms'.

"Ahh," she nodded, "right."

* * *

><p><strong>xx.d; <strong>It's spaghetti sauce... I swear!**  
><strong>


	37. blackmail iii

**xx.d; **Whoo, I am on a role today! For those of you privy to ignoring my other fic _Heist_ you might want to check it out because it's got _It's a Technician Thing_'s chapter fifteen; 'Technological Mishap' written from Shadow's perspective! *puts on a monocle* Very fascinating!

Thanks to **LordCooler**, **Inspirational Spark**, **Ficfan412**, **Izaackjl**, **Exploder**, **A Ugly faic **and **Welshscot **(there's a dedication for you in this chapter) for reviewing the last few chapters.

**Enjoi.**

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_Blackmail III_

"Tails," the hawk grinned egging the fox closer as they watched Wave revel in the aftermath of glory. Tails did so, suspiciously, and cautiously raising an eyebrow, "We're friends now, yeah?"

There was no hesitation in Tails voice when he narrowed his eyes and asked, "What do you want Jettison?"

The hawk rolled his eyes and held up two fingers, "Okay, number one is for you to stop calling me that."

"…Maybe," the fox grinned, irking the rider slightly.

"And the second…" the mechanic watched suspiciously as Jet retrieved a colourful packet from behind him and handed it to him, "this is a peace offering."

"Sl-slli-et-e Gran-é-" Tails struggled to pronounce its name.

"_Slitti Gran Cacao_," Jet smirked, as Tails huffed angrily, "The best Italian dark chocolate Spagonian candy in the world. 73% chocolate with minimal sugar intake." he announced proudly, "So I guess culture ain't your strong point?"

The fox rolled his eyes, "Yeah, you know me. It's all techno and engines with me… you're… you're really giving me this?"

"Sure. I don't want to be fighting with someone that's… been making a continuous presence in my life."

"Wait…" he murmured, Tails opened the bag and popped one of the candies in his mouth. When the familiar rush of adrenaline did not come he sighed, but then opened his eyes in amazement, "Oh Gods… these are-"

"Amazing? Fantastic? Brilliant?" Jet suggested.

"Orgasmic!"

Allow for a brief 'WTF' expression before the hawks mouth stretched into a grin, he laughed at the word, actually never having heard someone say that before.

"Wow, do you want one?" Tails asked eagerly.

He shrugged, _Just to boost his confidence_, he dipped his hand out and scooped one, throwing it into the air before catching it in his mouth. Truth be told he actually preferred white chocolate, but the candy wasn't that bad, "Thanks."

Wave beckoned Tails over, and the fox jumped up from his seat at the side. Jet leaned back on the seats and opened up his phone, ready to upload the gold onto Youtube.

"Wave, you've got to try one of these candies!"

"Okay!"

Wave popped the food into her mouth immediately, just as Jet expected her to, and bit down on it, just as he expected her to, and then she paused… that's right! Just as he expected her too.

"Tails…?"

"Is this… hard candy?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"As in… boiled sweets?"

"Yes?"

"Oh fuck-"

Jet settled further into his seat, waiting for the madness to unfold.

**x**

"WHO DID IT?" Shadow the hedgehog was screaming at all the participants, "WHO'S THE FUCKER THAT PUT RAMEN _IN MY SKATES!_"

Tails rushed up the furious ebony hedgehog and waved his hands in his face, "I swear she didn't mean it! Wave just isn't herself right now!"

"_WAVE DID IT?" _Shadow roared, looking around for the purple swallow. Then he was abruptly attacked by a blinding flash of violet as Wave latched onto his leg.

"Wave!" Tails bent down exasperatedly, "What are you doing?"

"I was trying to tackle Shadow down, but-You know, being the Ultimate Life Form and all," she shrugged. Shadow shook her off.

"Why were you trying to tackle me?"

"Because I…"

"?..."

"BOMB!" she screeched, successfully tackling both of them down.

After a few explosion less seconds later Shadow pushed her off and walked off, trying to figure out what he was going to do about his shoes.

"Oh my God, Gummi Bears! Do you have gummi bears Tails?"

"No! Stop-Stop doing whatever you're doing!" Tails demanded.

"I have absolutely no-IS THAT A BUTTERFLY?"

"Let's go and take you to the doc-"

"NO! Doctors are the tentacled spawn of Satan!"

Tails growled under his breath, "I was under the impression Bean was the spawn of Satan…"

"Tails! I can't believe you're allowing me to get tentacle raped! You're supposed to be the knight in shining armour!"

"Oh Gods… please don't mention Caliburn, please don't mention Caliburn."

"I once read a story about a King called Arthur."

"No…"

"He looked kind of like Sonic!"

Out of nowhere the hedgehog appeared and pointed at the audience, "I told you! I told you I wasn't dreaming or making up stories!"

"Yes you were," Tails growled, he was getting tired of dealing with delusional people.

"So Wave, what did you think of King Arthur? He was hot right?" Sonic smirked.

Wave giggled drunkenly, "Actually I thought the blacksmith was smokin'."

The fox hung his head in shame, "Is this how I act during my chocolate spasms?"

Storm made his way onto the tracks and panicked when she saw Tails restraining Wave. When she caught site of him she grinned and literally crawled over the fox in an attempt to get to the gray albatross. She made her way over to Storm and sat behind him worried, placing a hand over his stomach carefully, "Is the baby okay?"

"What baby?"

"This morning, you were vomiting and said you had a stomach ache!"

"Have you _tried _Boss' cooking?"

Jet was too amused to care, but this was caught on by Tails.

"Are… are you _filming?_" the fox asked incredulously.

"See, the thing is Foxy that Wave switched over my control panel so I slammed into a tree and almost broke my beak. This is my revenge."

Tails sighed, "Gods. I blew up my apartment. I'm not in the mood to deal with this shit."

"But, you've been having mood swings!"

"Boss' been thinking about sending me on a dangerous mission, but he keeps changing his mind."

"Oh _yeah? _Well then what about the fact that your period has stopped?"

"…_What?_"

"Jet! You're going to be a mother!"

"…Excuse me?"

Tails and Jet couldn't hold in their laughter anymore and slammed his hands on the bleachers, trying to keep the camera steady.

"Eat your heart out, Wave."

**Insane Swallow goes mad at Metropolis Speedway- **17, 374, 497 hits.

"Payback's a bitch, innit?"

* * *

><p><strong>xx.d; <strong>I felt a little sorry for Jet, you know with all the shit that I put him through...

**Jet:** Putting me in an unrequited love triangle, pitting me against a fox that's adorable, charming _and _talented, making me piss myself because of TD, getting me electrocuted, throwing boulders at me, slamming me into walls, making me spend my winners grant on shit I don't need, sheared my feathers, called me parrot/chicken _repeatedly_, revealed my real name, cut out my tongue-

**xx.d; **I did _not _cut out your tongue! That was Welsha-

**Jet: **Welshscot!

**TD: **Nice save.

**Jet: **Thanks. So yeah, you cut out my tongue, and gave me a debilitating case of homophobia. Which I _don't _have!

**xx.d; **Good, then you wouldn't mind being a mother. And it wasn't Welshcot, it was… it was Tails D… Was that who I thought it was?

**Jet: **Don't scroll up and he might go away.

**TD: **I'm still here guys. So I was wondering if I could have some of those sweets?

*screaming ensues*


	38. something missing

Hey guys, this is **kobiee**, Domi's best friend and I'm typing up this next to her because the idiot got herself a concussion. I'm rather sick of running to the doctor whenever something like this happens, and now she won't be able to answer your reviews because she's been temporarily blinded. She told me to take care of them, and she's not telling me to tell you not to be alarmed if you get the response message from a complete weirdo, because it's going to be me. Capishe? Don't worry, I don't bite… often.

Her work, not mine.

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_Something Missing_

"No…" he cried, watching as Wave rubbed at her elbow nervously, "Why the _hell _didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want to upset you…" she murmured timidly, eyes darting away from his own as she tried to make her way to the door. The sun was going to rise soon. a feint line of orange blurring the lines of the horizon.

"I'm not exactly happy _now _am I?" he growled crossing his arms over his chest. Wave pushed back her fringe and tied on her bandanna, stepping out the door, "Wave! Listen to me!"

"I _am_ listening to you! For the love of God, I didn't think you were going to act like this," she sighed in irritation, fists clenching.

"Act like-WHAT? Immature? Childish?" he screeched, eyes going wide with rage and hatred, "_You're _the one who told me that you're leaving _today!_"

"You know me," she shrugged, lying through her teeth, "procrastinator. And yes, you are acting childish," she growled, grabbing her gear by the door and storming out of his workshop. It was right before sunrise and she needed to get to the zeppelin.

"You're a liar! _I'm _the procrastinator, and I can't believe you would do this to me! Wait a sec-What do you expect? I'm only twelve!" the fox slipped the closest jacket he could find on, which happened to be a red chequered flannel over a worn band t-shirt and rugged black jeans. It was the fastest thing he could pull on at this moment.

"Yeah… I forget sometimes," she muttered, forgetting that Tails had really good hearing.

"Is that supposed to _mean_ something? Hey! I'm not done ranting!"

They were already halfway to where the zeppelin was parked and Tails was still yelling at her. He was furious; maybe she should have said the information sooner. Wow, that must have been the understatement of the century.

"I timed it! Since you're going back to school in three days, you're going to be too busy to annoy me," she explained, pleading for him to understand.

"Annoy? Is _that _what I do to you?" he snarled.

"At the moment; _YES!_"

They landed near the entrance to the zeppelin where the rest of Team Heroes, Amy and Cream were waiting for them to depart. This only infuriated him more, "Oh _awesome!_ Tell everyone else _but _me!"

She threw down her gear, surprising everybody, "God dammit Tails! Listen to me!"

He narrowed his bright blue eyes, arms stilled crossed over his chest, hair and clothes still rumpled from being waken at three o'clock. The people around them silenced to allow the both of them some concentration.

"Do you know how long the Babylon Rogues normally stay in one place?" she asked, voice very quiet and calm, the very opposite of him in that moment.

Tails thought over it for some time… answering hesitantly, "You… you've been here for seven months…"

"A _week. _We normally stay in one place for a week."

"What has that got to do with-?"

"The reason that we've stayed here for so long is because I made up some bullshit reasons to stay here," she pleaded, placing a hand on his shoulder and leaning down, "with _you._"

He growled, swatting her hand back, "I-I didn't ask you to!"

"Well then it's alright for me to leave then?" she asked playfully.

"_NO!_" it sounded more like a choked sob than anything else,"I… I don't want you to go!" her heart sunk. He was crying.

"Tails…" she whined, her voice getting softer, "Jet made me promise at the end of the first month that if I got six months here, the moment we got a huge promotional chance; we were leaving. C'mon, I'll be back by the time the school year's out."

"But… Chu Nan is on the other side of Mobius," he murmured, wiping the tears from his eyes.

"But it's paying the most cash for our appearance, and they've developed some amazing technology for trick development! I'll send you some! And post cards! And we'll web chat whenever we can, okay?" she had a feeling that her sales pitch just wasn't working.

"It's not going to be the same…" he mumbled, another tear sliding down his cheek.

In the background she could heart Sonic talking, saying something along the lines of, 'Gods… Tails hasn't cried like that since Cosmo died.'

_Oh shit._

It hurt her; it really did, seeing her best friend like this. She could feel the tears welling up in her own eyes, she didn't want to be away either, but Tails was only twelve and he might have been ahead grades by two years-just like she was-but he still had the emotional capacity of a child, and she had a job to do, she couldn't just drop it like that.

"Just four more months Tails," she assured, bringing him down for a hug.

He pushed her away, eyebrows crinkling together as he brought the collar off his flannel to his eyes, his hands obviously weren't working in the drying department, "Go away, I hate you."

Wave paused a second, honest hurt in her eyes as she watched Tails pout and turn away, giving up on wiping his tears away and simply hiding under his bangs.

"Just give up, Wave." Jet grumbled, waving her over.

"_I'll miss you,"_ she whispered, just loud enough for only Tails to hear. His head snapped up from staring at the ground, wide blue eyes watching in horror as she curled her fingers in a small wave and turned around, following Jet into the zeppelin.

Her heart clenched, she didn't want to leave their relationship like this.

And then…

She felt a hand on her wrist.

Yanking her around.

A hand around her neck.

Lips on her own.

"_Me too." _

He let her go and waved her goodbye, wiping the tears away with his wrists, "I'll be waiting for you when you come back."

* * *

><p>So the injured hospital patient's being impatient, wanting me to notify her reviewers that her question to win the artwork she's willing to draw is;<p>

_Pretend you are a Sonic character that hasn't appeared in __It's a Technician Thing__ and they are encountering either Tails Doll 2 or Tails!Chocolate-Frenzy-Style for the first time. How do they react?_

**NOTE: **you _can _choose a character that's only had one cameo (ie. Nicole, Bean, Bark, ect.) but we'd prefer those that weren't (eg. Silver, Blaze, Espio, _Fiona?_(that's actually me and my sick desire for conflict), Cream, Bunnie, Manic, ect.)

And about Wave leavin'? The Babylon Rogue's are nomads, it totally makes sense.

Good luck, have fun, and Domi might not get back to you guys in a while… I'd give it like, three days.


	39. red cross iii and somthing missing viii

Okay, I'm sittin' here writing while watching Domi threaten her little sister with a crowbar. Legit, honestly. Okay, for those of you that I haven't told, I am replacing Domino for as long as she cannot see. People say my writing is a little different to hers so, whatever and stuff.

Domi's prompt book says that some sadistic person called **Exploder** asked for this one.

Thanks to **A Ugly faic**, **Izaackjl**, **Exploder**, **Spadework2**, **WelshScot**, **ChaoCream**, **The Guy in the Background**, **Ficfan412**, **LordCooler** and **Ultima** for reviewing the last few chapters.

This takes place around… a year into their friendship? And a month, I'd say. BGM is in between the breaks. This chapter can also be considered as; _Something Missing VII_.

**Dom: **Don't forget the sign off.

**Kobie: **Do I _have _to?

**Dom: **It won't be the _same _without it!

**Kobie: **Ugh, fine! 'Enjoi'. BTW, you _can't _spell.

* * *

><p><em>A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor's book. ~Irish Proverb<em>

…

…

…

**It's a Technician Thing**

.

Chapter Thirty Nine

.

_Recovery III_

…

…

…

* * *

><p><em>From Now On We Are Enemies <em>by Fall Out Boy

* * *

><p>What the robots would have seen, and what they had been told to watch out for, despite the fact that they hadn't really seen it for themselves yet, was a flash of blue, then yellow, and then red before their circuits overloaded and exploded. Egg pawns were not built to withstand getting smashed, beaten and pulverised before they could even upload their sleepy monitors, and thus Team Heroes stormed Eggman's base with the first warning, a wave of explosions, showers of sparks and metallic voices screaming their final corruptions, their errors, before their circuits were fried and they fell to the cold steel floors as dead metal once again. As soon as they'd made their presence known, Eggman himself didn't hesitate to send swarm after swarm of metallic warriors in an attempt to hinder them so that he might have the slim chance of escaping.<p>

The three were running down a corridor at breakneck speeds when one of the security monitors decided to blow up on them, flooding the small space with smoke. Sonic skittered to a halt, breathing in enough smoke to become a hindrance as he hacked it back up. Tails skittered to the side, loosing acceleration as he tried to blink the soot from his eyes away. Knuckles seemed the most unaffected, but he did run in a wall by accident, so he stopped as well, rubbing his sore nose.

"Eugh, Tails, what did you say we're after again?"

"It's an Air Gear Simulator. The data inside such a contraption has enabled Eggman to personify our data, statistics like trick balance, maximum speed into something that could create robots of the same calib-" the fox patted his tails of ash and dirt as he plunged into an intricate explanation of their objective.

Such techno babble was too much for Knuckles to handle, and eventually caused him to cave, "Okay! Whatever! It's dangerous. Let's go."

"Someone's pissy today," Tails mumbled, just loud enough for Sonic to hear as they started to pick up speed, tails starting to rotate into their familiar rhythm. The mechanic laughed, he would never get over how funny this was, speaking like this even though they were in the middle of a battle fortress with robots set on them, ready to kill.

"Julie-Su isn't giving him any."

"What do you mean?" he asked cluelessly, dodging forward and slamming his fist into an egg pawn, resulting in an instant explosion that Knuckles had to skitter to the side to avoid.

"He doesn't mean anything!" Knuckles growled, grabbing the fallen debris from the robot Tails just annihilated and using it to throw three more robots off their feet, "And Sonic, stop corrupting the child!"

"Well, Wave ain't making it harder," the blue hedgehog grinned cheekily, giving Tails a wink. Tails flinched at the name, he still didn't think that he was on better terms with the swallow, not after their last huge fight.

"Yeah, Tails is attached to her like Sonic to chilidogs," Knuckles took advantage of surprised slip to overtake him, exciting the wide corridor to encounter a chasm in the mechanic system.

"Hey!" the fox protested, watching as Knuckles glided across. The chasm echoed from beneath them like a beast's roar… that probably meant that they would soon have more company.

"Tails? A little help here buddy?"

"No way," he smirked, crossing his arms over his chest as the roaring got louder, not until you tell me what Knuckles meant by that.

Sonic stomped his foot, making a 'why me?' gesture, "What? But _he _was the one being the prick! _Not me!_"

"Tails!" the red echidna's impatient voice echoed across the chasm, "Now is _not _the time!"

"Like I'm going to get it out of you any other time!" he yelled, his voice echoing of the steel prison as monitor robots started to troop in. What a bad time, in the middle of a spat too.

The words come out of Sonic's mouth rushed and slurred together, like a melting train wreck, "He's trying to imply that you're in love with her, okay?"

"_What?" _he growled in anger, turning his attention towards the echidna. What he didn't note was that Sonic was now surrounded by a hoard of the egg pawns and would sooner be overwhelmed if he didn't help him.

"_Tails!" _Sonic yelled, and the fox remembered that they were in the middle of a mission, swooping down to grab Sonic's wrists and carry him over to the other side, joining Knuckles as they dashed through another crowd of monitoring bots leaving a blaze of sparks and robotic limbs behind them. They were almost at the final stage of the tower, one more door and they would be able to blast through.

They'd already started to tire, all three of them were heaving in breaths, having to scale a fifty level high tower in order to reach Eggman which would no doubt be at the top. This was where he would reside, bent on escaping before Sonic could punish him once again. Unfortunately when they penetrated the final level Eggman was just taking off in his stupid little portable eggshell, and he'd left behind a massive supply of explosions seconds from-

_BOOM!_

They scrambled around, looking for the quickest way out. Eggman had exterminated his own mission but unfortunately, they were still in danger. Tails could only see walls and machinery caving around him, there was no exit to speak of, _"SONIC! KNUCKLES!"_

Tails was shoved forward by a falling generator, tripping on his sneakers he screeched as the piece of machinery fell on his legs. He scratched at the metal floor beneath him, gloves dirtying and ripping as he dragged his leg out. Then, using his closest hand he pulled out his trapped tail, wincing from the striking pain shooting up his calf.

"TAILS!" Sonic yelled, and through the gray smog Tails could faintly make out the hedgehog's outline, followed by the echidnas. There was a creaking sound that echoed through the rubble, it bounced of the walls like some kind of ominous shadow, then there was a follow up snapping sound, and then…

A sickening screech filled the air like an explosion, so sharp with it's clarity it cut through all the other noises fighting for the most attention. It soared through Sonic and Knuckles decibel range and started to send them into a state of panic. Knuckled uncovered Tails body first, finding him under a stack of machinery that would have crushed something important. Sonic jumped into the rubble, cradling the kitsune's body as he tried to get him to wake up.

"Tails? Tails buddy! Open your eyes!"

The fox moaned, opening his eyes, "Just-" he coughed, "get me out of here. _I'm waiting~"_

The hedgehog and the echidna smiled, glad that throughout the ordeal Tails was still alright. Sonic started to drag his body out when he let out a hiss of pain and Knuckles wretched when he saw the angle of Tails bone.

"Yowch! Careful you moron!"

"Hey! Your saviour's here, it's only a little spr-" the hedgehog was growling but Knuckles was shaking his head vigorously, covering his mouth in shock. Around them the building was still crumbling and would cave in at any moment, they could already see a giant hole through the ceiling, the tower of smoke escaping through there no doubt alarming any plane that happened to witness the unfortunate sight… Ugh… Damn Eggman.

"Uh uh, Sonic, it's broken," Knuckles clarified, wincing when Tails let out another pained howl.

"Well isn't that just bloody fantastic, what was your first sign, Genius?" the yellow fox growled irritably, making the both of them cringe by the intense degree of sarcasm they just weren't used to from them.

"Oh no!" Sonic cried.

"What?" Knuckles and Tails said in unison.

"Who's going to fly the X-Tornado?"

_Really? God I have such _great _friends._

* * *

><p><em>You and Me <em>by Lifehouse

* * *

><p>"<em>Again?<em> Seriously? Is it just me or do you get off of pain?" she growled, storming into his workshop where Tails was resting on his couch with his broken leg propped up onto the coffee table/dining table/sketching table/odd trinkets table/homework table, but at the moment it was being used as a footrest. He had been in the process of trying to reach for the coffee that was just beyond his cast, but whenever his fingertips brushed the mug he pushed it farther away.

Wave's voice startled him so much that he tipped the coffee over and it spilled onto the floor. There was an echoing crash as the mug smashed into pieces; the noise was high and shrill in his ears, and then cut by silence. He sucked his lips between his teeth, biting them to will away the insults. In the moment the cup had fallen down he had instinctively reached forward to get it, placing pressure on both his legs. The striking agony flashed in needles up his spine, continuous, unwilling to cease and fade.

He looked up, eyes bright and cheeks red when he spied her, fresh from shopping or something because she wasn't in her usual outfit. She was garbed in a baggy gray shirt with an equally worn looking black cardigan, red chequered shorts and studded black sneakers. She slipped of a red cap to see him and suddenly all the tension in the room spilled over, made obvious when he released a large, shuddering breath, "What are you doing here?"

She replied cattily, narrowing her sparkling azure eyes, "Isn't it obvious?"

_No it isn't._

"I'm here…" her voice trailed off, the sweet soprano in her vocal chords dying and transforming into something timid, finally realising the situation, "Here to… make sure you're okay."

He ran a hand through his bangs, unsure of what to do with the situation. The tense atmosphere was starting to build up again and he hated it. It crawled in his skin and made his heart slam against his rib cage, sticking a lump in his throat and a dull burn in the back of his skull. Instead he stared at her, evaluating how her head vision sloped at just the right angle to avoid eye contact, and how her posture sagged as if she wanted to curl into herself.

"I'm… I'm glad."

But was he?

_She broke my heart._

He'd felt this wretched emotion before, did he really want to deal with it again?

_Have you tried imagining life without her?_

"Hey, I might have rejected you." she announced the words in a way that made them sound cold and harsh, "But my family takes priority over my love life any day!"

There were seven moments of the most infuriating silence ever.

And then…

Tails burst out into a fit of laughter, the happy sound filling the room in an instant. In his insane sounding guffaws his plastered leg banged into the table and his cheers turned into pained moans. She was at his side in an instant, wonderment turning into worried coos, "Oh shit, is there anything that I can do?"

"Oh gods, the agony…"

"Water? Painkillers?"

"Stuff that, give me a hug."

She gave him a 'WTF' look, raising an eyebrow and leaning back a notch, "Seriously?"

"I haven't gotten one since you came back," he grinned, arms outstretched, eyes pleading. She was still sceptical though, he understood why. Tails had been rejected so many times before; she honestly didn't think that he would survive another breakup without some kind of therapy or permanently disfiguring their relationship. And here he was.

Smiling.

"You're seriously okay with this?"

He grinned, eyes closing into happy arches as she enveloped him in a hug, "Better brother than nothing at all."

Her head had been bowed down the entire time, but when she raised it, tears were streaming down her cheeks in crystal rivulets. She pounced forward and hugged him, crying into his shoulder until he gave another cry of pain, "You're so _stupid!_"

"What? Why!" he cried in defiance.

"Don't you _dare _get hurt like that again! I come back from the other side of the world and you're a sickly mess bent on killing yourself, and now your leg is broken!"

"But-"

"Don't say _anything! _If you ever get hurt like this again I will murder you myself!" she yelled, bouncing on the couch enough to shoot another bolt of pain through his leg.

"Sunuva-!"

"Oh no," she said, staying completely still, "what will nullify the pain?"

He rolled his neck, bones creaking, lips grinning. He was happier than he had been in months, and it was all because she was smiling again, "Sleep probably… and maybe…"

"What?" she asked, truly eager to cease the pain.

"Chocolate?"

"_Fuck no!"_

Yep. All better.


	40. miss lady and mr gentleman

Sorry people. I'm just not as motivated as Domi to write and it can take me a lot longer to post chapters. For those of you that are wondering, she's fine and to solve your queries, she actually hit to pole face first, and that somehow damaged her retina or something important like that. Plus, I LOST HER PROMPT BOOK! When she finds out I'm going to be killed. Brutally. With random instruments around her house! And I know from experience that there are a lot of dangerous things in her _room _let alone her entire house. But before my demise, here's another chapter.

Thanks to **little-miss-monochrome** (could you bring some pizza the next time you come over?), **WelshScot**, **Izaackjl**, **Angel-of-Energy**, **A Ugly faic**, **Ficfan412**, **LordCooler** and **Exploder** for reviewing the last chapter.

Okay. This is the only prompt that I can remember off by heart, so here's hoping that I actually got it right. And it's opposed to 'Gentleman'.

* * *

><p><em>Every girl should eventually get three things from her boyfriend- a stuffed animal, one of his sweatshirts, and a really pretty ring. Even if it's not a serious relationship. ~Anonymous <em>

…

…

…

**It's a Technician Thing**

.

Chapter Forty

.

_Miss Lady_

…

…

…

* * *

><p><em>Skyway Avenue <em>by We The Kings

* * *

><p>"Ever realise that Wave acts more like a boy than you do?"<p>

It wasn't a spat, or even an insult in anyway on Silver's part, it was simply a careful observation. So when Tails felt the anger quelling inside of him, he couldn't even snap back at the hedgehog, because not only was Silver not there anymore, he was right.

Sitting on the bleachers of the Sega Carnival track he thought about it, considering he had nothing to do until the race started which would be in an hour's time. Sonic-the blue bastard-had cancelled training with him last minute to deal with some kind of 'unexplained business'. Ch'yeah right. So he'd been left to his own devices, having already participated in three races now and getting sick of continuously getting shot out of a cannon.

He propped his feet up onto edge of the next row of bleachers, looking down at his sneakers. They were white originally, but now had gray scuffs all over them. When Amy had given them to him for his fourteenth birthday he hadn't thought much of them. Most of his clothes were presents from females or relatives that didn't know what else to get him. It was a sad fact to realise that Amy had been dressing him since he was twelve years old (that was when he decided to break away from Sonic and he decided 'Hey! Wearing clothes isn't that bad!')

People like Shadow, Sonic, Wave and the rest of the Babylon Rogues got him new Radical Engines or Turboprops; people like Rouge and Knuckles got him different jewels used as natural power sources; Silver and Blaze (apparently they'd only met a little while ago but they acted like best friends) liked to get him technology from their dimension, because he was so fascinated by it all; it was normally Amy, Cream, Bunnie and Sally that bought him feminine gifts like flowers and chocolate.

His god damn sneakers had _wings _on them. He'd thought they were cool, but…

Had their influence made him… _girly? _His voice hadn't even started breaking yet. Was that cause for alarm?

The fox wiggled in his seat, blue eyes landing on his jeans. They were navy blue and so tattered his knees could be seen through the holes. They were manly right? Or was he overcompensating their simplicity with the chain hanging from his chequered black and white belt?

It was the style he had naturally grown into when puberty started. His music taste (All Time Low, Story of the Year, Paramore, Corn, Skillet, ect.) had developed by spending too much time in Shadow's garage taking notes about how the Ultimate Life Form composed his combustion engines and going to Mina's concerts whenever he could. The punk theme had developed from there.

His eyes moved up to his tank top, it was gray also, and thrown on after he had dirtied one of his other shirts with grease and smoke again. And the hoodie he was wearing over it was white with blue stripes, baggy because… Egads! This hoodie wasn't his! It was Waves!

Silver was right! Wave acted like more of a guy than he did! He liked flowers and Wave didn't. He ate the most ice cream, watched more chick flicks and cried _more _than she did! And now he was wearing women's clothing!

Silver tumbled of the tracks, watching Tails pick at the Celtic cross bracelet he had gotten from Cream as a birthday present before the fox realised he was finished racing. He slipped it back on and hopped down the bleachers to meet the hedgehog, "Silver!"

"Yes?"

"Is it a bad thing? That I act more of a girl than Wave?" his words tumbled out of his mouth like food he forgotten to chew and swallow.

Silver pushed up his goggles and a small smile curved his lips as he sat down on the headboard of one of the chairs, "Tails. Most guys I know would give a limb for a girlfriend like yours."

"Wave is _not _my-" he growled, getting cut off by Silver again.

"Close enough to be. But despite that; do you know how awesome it is that Wave doesn't gossip about others the way that other girls do? That she isn't against paying for you when you eat out? That she can take as much damage as the regular male when play fighting? Or that she's more horrendous with her swearing that yourself?" they shared a laugh at the last bit, "I wouldn't be worried about who's the guy and the girl in the relationship between you two. You balance each other out and people would kill for what you have. Besides, there are three thing to define whether you two are in a relationship or not."

Tails scoffed, doubting that Silver would know anything about that. He might have been sixteen but in social standards, the white hedgehog might have been around as naïve as Tails, "Really? And where did you get this info?"

"Rouge."

Tails faced him with a temporary 'Whut?' look before the question could properly form on his what-seemed-to-be-swollen tongue, "What were you doing with Rogue?"

"She was at Shadow's Garage."

"What were you doing at Shadow's Garage?" was the follow up question.

"They stole one of the Sol Emeralds by accident again. Wasn't their fault, what with how they look so alike and all," Silver shrugged, golden eyes warm with mirth.

"Okay, okay, whatever. Now what were those three things again?"

The psychic let out a tiny laugh before holding up the first finger, "First is whether you've gotten her a stuffed toy or not."

Tails tapped his lips quietly before murmuring, "I don't think demonic floating monsters count."

"Does she have one of your jackets? Or clothing items?"

Tails rolled his eyes, "She's got half of my wardrobe on the zeppelin. She keeps on forgetting to give it back."

"And rings?"

The fox started shaking his head before he stopped, "There are… No. They wouldn't count."

"What doesn't count?" Silver murmured, placing his elbows on his knees, propping his boots onto the row of bleacher chairs.

"I've given her countless rings, but they're… they're like from arcade games. You know? Those cheap plastic or glass ones that you can earn for around 50 tickets each?"

Silver raised an eyebrow, "What's an arcade?"

Tails face broke into a grin, remembering that Silver was still very new to their kind of civilisation. They both lightened up when Wave and Blaze trotted over to them, ready to race. The fox and the swallow were about to start gearing up when a movement at the corner of his eye caught his attention. Silver was making some odd gesture towards Wave, and when it finally clicked he scowled and threw an empty milk shake cup at the hedgehog's head.

Wave was wearing a ring. Stupid and plastic with a boring little orange star around a thin band of translucent chemical. But it was still a ring.

It was a weak throw and he didn't even have to use telekinesis to throw the rubbish off so that it landed somewhere else. Blaze understood the situation far faster than Tails could have and waved them off before shouting, "You're officially in denial!"

He turned around, ruddy sneakers skidding along cement as he yelled; "Shut up!" in their general direction. His face was turning red though and Wave noticed this.

"What does she mean?" the purple swallow asked.

He groaned, running his hand through his bangs, "She's just high on catnip. Don't wor-Hey! The race is about to start! Let's go!"

* * *

><p>Domi'll be back in the next chapter. As much fun as it was getting to know her closest reviewers. Writing one-shots aren't my thing. I'm gonna go hide in a bomb shelter or something.<p>

**TD: **Yay! He's leaving!

*gets shot*... despite how utterly useless that is against a floating robotic doll.


	41. running jokes iii

**GUESS WHO JUST DRANK ALL THE MORPHINE!**

APPROXIMATELY 75% OF THIS CHAPTER WAS WRITTEN IN CAPTITITIAL LETTERS! **YOUR EVAL OVERLORDERLY DOMINO IS BACK TO DEMAND WORSHIP**, BUBBLEGUM SOAP AND KITCHEN INSTRUMENTALS OF DOOM! (Except the spatula, which I realise is not painful at all when you're trying to beat your minions into submission). The one you name 'Kobiee' (TRAITOROUS, EVIL, SUNUVA-**MANGO-ICED-TEA**!) is either dead or dying in the expanse of my garbage bin, COMING SOON TO A DUMP NEAR YOU!

**ANY REVIEW NOT WRITTEN IN CAPS WILL BE DISCARDED AND FED TO MY RABBIT!** THE AMAZING AND SPECTACULAR SOY-SAUCE FRITLAVIOUS GRAVIS CURVA AURITUS CUNICULUS! FRITTY FOR SHORT! HE DEMANDS ALCOHOL OF THE INTOXICATING AND MULTI-COLOURED VARIETY!

To _Ficfan421_- You're an absolute darling! You will tell Kobie that next time you pass a dumpster, yes?

Who of those are **ENJOI**ing yourselves yet? What? Hmm... SPEAK LOUDER!

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing <strong>

(**TD: **Hardly! It's just about a lot of people getting high now! **The Author didn't ask **_**YOU! **_**GET BACK IN THE CLOSET! **That's just how this mess started!)

_Running Jokes III_

(**TD: **Otherwise known as BREAKING THE FOURTH WALL! **I'll show **_**you **_**a FOURTH WALL! CLOSET! **_**NEOW!**_

"WAVE! YOU MUST HUG ME IN THE NAME OF DELICIOUSNESS!"

"JJJJEEEEEEETTTTTTTTTTT!" Wave screeched, her high pitched tenor resounding off the walls of the zeppelin. And when she screamed like that, she was either incredibly horny (Jet hoped) or incredibly angry… sometimes both!

"-IIIISSSSSSOOOONNN!" And then there was Tails. The stupid dog. And he had to visit today of all days! It was Friday after all! It was the day where Jet could have his pedicure, paint his nails, eat some Rocky Road chocolate and then maybe stalk Sonic for half an ho-YOU DID _NOT _READ ANY OF THAT!

"That's not my name!" He found it becoming that his real name would now be public information, prepare for onslaught of public humiliation, cake fights, and whatnot. He moved into the lounge next to the bar, only entering the area when the blur of purple crashed into him. Unfortunately, she looked ridiculously furious.

"Why did you do it?" she screamed at him, gripping his chest feathers (NO! NOT THE CHEST FEATHERS!) and pulling hard enough to cause him immeasurable pain. They toppled to the ground but Wave paid no heed to his injuries (violent bitch!) as she commando crawled behind the couch, leaving him out in the open.

"IT'S RAININ' MEN! ALLELUIA!"

Wave pulled herself into the foetal position and started rocking back and forth muttering, "Oh god. He's here. He's here. He's here."

Jet was having a jolly time BLEEDING and SHITTING HIS NON-EXISTENT PANTS… ON THE _FLOOR! _

Tails appeared a moment later, donning a TD in one hand and a chocolate bar in the other. Jet blanched. That's it. They were doomed. It would be…

_**THE END OF THE WORLD! **_

He could understand Tails high on chocolate. He could understand TD. But he couldn't manage _all three TOGETHER!_

"I have to write my will!" he screamed, bolting down the hall. Wave lunged out to grab his tail feathers, "OUCH! HEY! I CAN'T AFFORD TO LOOSE ANY MORE OF THOSE!"

"It's the parrot!" Oh no. Jet put on a brave face and stood up in the face of danger. It seemed that Tails Doll's light wasn't glowing, that meant that he was… asleep or something.

"C'mon Tails." he said in a _very _gentle and soft voice. The same kind of tone that he used whenever he wanted Storm to go to sleep (but that was only after warm milk and a bed time story), "Why don't you come into the kitchen and we can have some warm milk and… cookies," he muttered, "nothing pertaining to chocolate thoug-"

"YAY! _COW JUICE!_" he sped into the kitchen faster than a paedophile after a kid with ice cream. As he followed the fox into the kitchen he was greeted with a spit face full of milk. Wiping it away from his eyes he sighed, watching the fox slam the carton onto the island in the middle of the kitchen, "THIS IS OF INNEFICIENT QUALITY! I DEMAND PINKNESS!"

"What?"

Tails slapped his fore head, "And you have proved yourself not only inadequate but inefficient, it is not satisfactory nor vocabulary, it is in fact, an abomination! DON'T YOU SEE MAN! IT'S JUST LIKE CHOCOLATE AND POPCORN MIXED TOGETHER!" he yelled, jumping up onto the table.

_Okay! Okay! As long as he doesn't have a pole, he _won't _start stripping… I think. _

"I DEMAND THE SUGARY SWEETNESS OF LIQUIDATED CITRUS FRUITS!"

"I DON'T _KNOW _WHAT THAT MEANS!"

"He wants lemonade!" Wave giggled from the doorway, _filming again. _The sadistic bitch.

"PRAISE THE HOLY PROPHET LEMONADE!"

"Oh dear God."

"PRAISE HIM!"

"Wave!" he groaned, "There are more important things than Youtube right now; like your homicidal best friend."

"Silly Jet. Nothing is more important than Youtube." she trilled.

"MY IMPERFECTIONS ARE NON-EXISTANT IGNORANT BOOBS! I AM _DELICIOUS!_"

"I'd beg to differ." he muttered.

"WELL THEN YOU'RE AN IGNORANT BOOB!"

"I AM NOT!"

Three seconds. That's how long it took for Tails to hop of the table and press himself flush against Jets chest, "And you'd like to get up close and personal with each of those qualities, right? Sample my deliciousness, 'Legendary Wind Master?'" he smirked in a sultry, flirty tone.

"_AHH!"_

"Aww, he's so shy!" Tails twittered before turning to the demonic doll in his hand, "Isn't that right TD?"

Jet thought he might have wet himself a little when the doll replied with a small nod. Tails pressed his ears closer to the doll's mouth, nodding as if the doll was speaking before standing erect, "TD would like to bake a cake!"

"For the love of God, NO!"

Tails pouted before looking back to TD and gasping, "TD? Where's your pirate hat?"

The hawk and the swallow exchanged very, very frightened looks at each other before turning back to the fox who was grinning menacingly, "If I let you guys… I don't know… use the toaster, will that occupy you?" Jet murmured.

The fox's finger pads met the others in an imitation of Mr. Burns 'Excellent' pose, "I can do some pretty amazing things with toast! You can ask Sonic."

"JET FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY, DO _NOT _LET HIM NEAR THAT!" Wave screamed before TD abruptly flung himself from Tails shoulder and tackled her to the ground, dragging her into another room. While she was begging for mercy he turned his attention back to Tails.

"I found your wallet Jet! It smells like grass!" he giggled… NOW WHERE HAD HE HEARD THAT BEFORE?

In the other room, TD let loose a roar that sounded suspiciously like; "FEAR THE WRATH OF THE _ULTIMATE PHONE CHARGER!_"

"Am I going to get it back?"

"No."

"I knew it."

"Now while I play with the toaster, you have three minutes to go and find TD's pirate hat. Do you understand? If you don't find it within the designated time limit, then Storm won't have someone to come home and take care of the baby anymore, savvy?"

"Do I really have-" Jet growled, knowing full well that was a pretty _stupid _thing to do.

"QUESTION ME AGAIN AND I'M CUTTING OUT YOUR TONGUE!"

"But-"

"Jet, do you know that I once ran over Sonic… several times… on purpose. He's very agile. He must be air gear resistant."

"Alright."

"HURRY MINION! BEFORE I BEAT YOU TO DEATH WITH A BAMBOO STICK!"

* * *

><p>YOUR OVERLORD DEMANDS CAPITALS! please?... WONDERFULLNESS IS DERIVED FROM TOAST AND LEMONADE! PRAISE MY NEW GLASSES, FOR THEY ARE THE SHIZ! AND OTHER SUCH IDIOTIC NONESSESITIES! (OMG! 'WORD' ACTUALLY THINKS THAT'S A WORD!)<p>

WHO LIKES MY NEW AVATAR? **LIKE IT DAMMIT! **ANYONE THAT LIKES IT WILL GET BROWNIE POINTS! AND ANYONE THAT HAS BROWNIE POINTS CAN TRADE THEM TO **TD **IN REPLACEMENT FOR THEIR SOUUUULLLL! **CRASH BANDICOOT FOREVER!**

**Jet: **Review! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD PLEASE! Because you _know _what they'll do to me! BTW. Domino will probably be back to normal by tomorrow. It's Monday after all.

**GO READ ROMANTICALLY APOCALYPTIC! IT'S SOOOOO DELICIOUS!**

Ttrroollololol! UNTIL NEXT TIME MY LOVELY WATERMELONS!


	42. praise

**xx.d; **Alright, I have calmed down significantly since the last chapter and am ready to get this story going again. Kobie is not really dead, but he is sporting a healthy bruise for loosing my prompt book. I mean, dammit I needed that! But whatever.

Has anyone read a good manga lately? I've been looking for one after finishing all the chapters of _Deadman Wonderland_. It's so wonderful with an amazing plot and brilliant characters I actually fall in love with. People should go read it.

Thanks to **LordCooler**, **Exploder**, **Ficfan412**, **HalfWright**, **Eidorian999**, **Izaackjl** and **The Guy in the Background** for reviewing the last chapters.

**Enjoi.**

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_Praise_

Tails believed he was a masochist.

There was just no other reason as to why he was acting the way he was. He used to be the kind of wimpy kid that would give up as soon as someone had discouraged him. He didn't know exactly why he changed but he could ascertain as to why, it was partially _her _fault.

It was not the regular case of 'When I grow up I wanna be like-' this time. He did not want to become like Wave. She was snarky, cruel, a cheater and she was generally a bad person. She stole things, she believed that Jet was God, and that people that were not as intellectually advanced as Storm were automatically not as important or significant.

No. The reason he respected her was mostly out of envy. Because her technological skill with an extreme gear was monumental, with theoretical ideas and maintenance capabilities he could only dream of. So her praise shouldn't have meant as much to him as it did.

"_Well, I never imagined that someone would enter the race with such a piece of junk!" _

Truth be told, back then, he honestly felt like crying. It was just like fourth grade again, getting teased and ridiculed because he liked to tinker around with gears. Now it made his blood boil, he hated her. Wanted to prove her wrong, and that his gear _was _better than junk!

That race in Green Cave he had pressed and pressed on faster and faster, exhausting himself to pull the highest trick, gain the most air and weave through the other opponents to pass her, sending her the briefest of victorious smirks as he passed the finish line, and _god _had it felt good.

But instead of receiving the gratification he deserved, he just received one condescending _look _and then she was gone. Returning to her boss obediently, to wallow in her defeat somewhere else.

"_Your Gear is still as amazing as ever, Wave..."_

_"Was that supposed to be sarcasm, Shrimp?"_

He was trying to be nice! And really… he… alright he was actually digging for a little approval. C'mon! There is nothing that feels nicer than having someone older and more skilled in a particular field tell them they have talent, or at least that they're doing a good job. That was what he strived for, watching that interested little twinkle in her eyes even when she was telling him off for being useless.

"_It looks like you're starting to get a rudimentary grip on the gear yourself."_

It'd come right after an insult, and he still felt rather crummy after it. But it was still a complement, and he had won that race with pride, a lot of it. So that was what he worked for in making extreme gear, constantly wondering if it met Wave's standards and exceed her expectations.

And slowly, as they continued to race and get better, he put in more effort, and slowly started to reach her skill. The insults started to loose their venomous nature, even catching a slight envious note to them before they started to disappear all together.

What used to be, _"Pathetic gear maintenance, Prower." _soon became, _"Nice work, Shortie." _

It wasn't until years later that he realised exactly why she was so mean to him in the beginning. It was right after a race, she approached him, ruffled his hair gently and murmured, "When I grow up, I wanna be like you."


	43. all's fair in love and war

**xx.d; **Alright, I have been thinking long and hard about something. I know right? Don't hurt myself.

I forgot where the reviews for the last chapters started and began, so just, thanks to everyone that reviewed in the last few chapters.

I'm thinking… that after the Tails Doll Arc I might stop writing this story…

**Enjoi.**

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_All's Fair in Love and War_

There was an earth shattering crack; it didn't even take any prior run up or excessive force to lodge the head of the wrench deep into the wall right beside Tails' head. He didn't even flinch; his sky blue eyes were half lidded and unimpressed as they locked steadily with the fiery blue flames in Wave's irises.

"You are _such _a little _prat, _Prower!"

"Takes one to know one, you self righteous bitch," he replied coolly, crossing his arms over his chest. Both were locked into an intense staring match, putting everyone else on the track around them on edge. They all knew what it was like to put either of them in a rage. They also knew what it was like when both of them was in a rage and they were fighting against the opposed in unity. But they had _never _been this angry at _each other _before, so no one knew what to do.

They'd been friends for three years, so no one would think people as intelligent and _civil _as Tails and Wave, now 15 and 19, could carry out a grudge match as petty and _violent _as these two. Unfortunately everyone was wrong.

And _everyone _was suffering.

Rouge couldn't go out with her shopping buddy because Wave was always raving about how horrible Tails was.

Silver had to turn to other people to teach him about the modern day world, and not everyone knew that they were talking about.

Cream couldn't go _near _Wave without the swallow absolutely _exploding _at her.

Shadow couldn't visit Tails workshop to borrow supplies because everything recently used was dented _as if _destroyed in a fit of rage.

_Both _Team Babylon and Team Heroes were taking the brunt of the punishment.

Sonic was observing the verbal spat between the two. This time Wave had been the one to loose her cool first, and Tails was returning her insults with the same amount of creative flair. That's what happened when you unleashed two geniuses of a similar hidden catty nature against each other.

"Do _you _know how this started, Sonic?"

He had to admit that he was a little alarmed it was Jet that was addressing him so calmly. But then something else came to mind…

"Did Tails do something to you?" Sonic blinked his green eyes curiously.

"He threatened to cut out my tongue… _again._"

The hedgehog snorted, thoroughly amused with the situation, "Oh man, that's rich." That was until Jet interrupted him with a rather bone chilling memory.

"She threatened you with the toaster."

Sonic stopped laughing immediately, sending a glare in the hawk's direction, who was tilting his head and grinning cheekily. At the same time the both of them turned towards their mechanics, who were threateningly waving around their weapons.

"Back to my previous question?"

The hedgehog scratched behind his ears absently, shrugging his shoulders which made him fumble around with his gear. He dropped it onto the floor and jerked a thumb in the fighter's directions, "Listen. Silver was the closest to them when it all started."

"What did he say?" Jet persisted.

"Everything was a little lost in translation, ya know, since Silver's a little new to… relationships and the like? He said that Tails and Wave were speakin' about her boyfriend… who is it anyway?"

Jet shrugged, pulling off his goggles and tinkering with them, "She hasn't told us, but we're leaning more towards Predator Hawk or Espio."

"Excuse me, _what?_"

"Purple guy. Pretty quiet. _Ninja?_"

"No but I'm saying… God, how can you even _consider that?_ Espio has like, _no_ romantic bone in his body."

Jet rolled his ice blue eyes and waved his hand dismissively, "Back to the original issue man?"

"Oh yeah," Sonic tapped his temple lightly with his wrist and continued his horrible narration, "Well Tails made a crack at their relationship, and Wave said he wouldn't understand because he was only fifteen, I think he said that escalated to how Wave always thought that she was superior because she was older, and that moved into how Tails was always seeking sympathy because he was a little bit younger than everyone he hangs out with… and then they started screaming and yelling at each other… and then… I don't know. Shadow and I were only trying to teach Silver how to play C.O.D. After they started yelling we decided to make an exit."

"Damn…"

"How's your gear?"

Jet brought out Type-J, watching closely how the paneling was dented and the flashing blinkers and swivel buttons were flashing without being touched or altered. It was in absolutely terrible shape. He nodded solemnly.

"Mine's about the same," Sonic admitted, unwilling to even look at his board.

"Listen, I know I'm not the nicest or the most co-operative person out there, but I hate returning late, passing her workshop and hearing her crying."

Sonic's eyebrows knitted together, "And you don't think I enjoy knowing Tails is sleeping over at my place, because the sight of his workshop sickens him?"

They stared at each other for a longer amount of time before a loud thrash brought them back to the two mechanics argument. Wave had started tearing up, but Tails had been the one so upset he had thrown his extreme gear to crash into pieces on the ground, turning around and walking off.

The hedgehog sighed, lamenting over the amount of pain his little brother was in, "They're hurting each other."

They locked eyes before murmuring at the same time, "They need to make up."

Sonic and Jet were not the most creative people in the world, and thus sticking two people fighting in a closet until they make up was the only solution they could think off. And thus what they did.

**x**

Three weeks later and they were both making cute little scientist jokes that nobody could understand. They were sharing ice cream, fixing extreme gears, watching crummy horror films and treating each other like besties again. Rouge had her shopping partner, Silver had his tour guide, Cream could play with flowers without being traumatised, Shadow could borrow equipment and the Extreme Gear of the Heroes and the Babylon were kept in top condition.

But anyone that referred to the fight as a 'couple's spat' was abruptly hit in the face with a wrench.

* * *

><p>… I'll be tellin' those awesome people that have stuck around and reviewed the longest <em>why <em>I'm going to be stopping this story soon.


	44. AUTHOR'S NOTE! Feat Tails, Wave and TD

**; **Hello my lovelies! I didn't think people would be so upset by my not continuing the story, and now I'm here to explain wh-

**TD: ***shoots Author in the head* HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME! IaTT has been my only appearance as a main character since... Since Tails' Nightmare 2! *looks down at dead body and sees the script in the Author's hand. Picks it up and reads it* Oh shhhiiiittt. *turns to the eager readers* It seems that most of you... myself included, have come to the wrong conclusion.

**Tails: ***takes the script and reads it* Oh thank God, I thought I was destined to going back... subjecting myself to all the other fan fictions including turning me into a girl and pairing me up with Sonic.

**Wave: ***takes the script and reads it* Yes! The Tails/Wave shippers will not die with this story!

**TD: **What Domi was about to say, is that way, way back in the earliest chapters, some people requested for a plot to _It's a Technician Thing_ and she replied that there was no plot, and people seemed displeased.

**Wave: **So she said, that if this story took of, she would write a complete story with character development, intro, complication, plot and everything!

**Tails: **Here's some evidence!

* * *

><p><strong>Extract from Chapter Four<strong>

**x **alrighty, to quench some curious minds; this story initially had no major goal, but now it does. It's nothing major like an epic new quest, because I never had anything in mind for this drabble series in the first place. If this gets enough reviewers then I'd be willing to **start an all new story** **with a major plot and fighting and stuff** but that's after I finish my other huge work. Pfft, I'm only fifteen. So yeah, the main plot is pretty much Tails and Wave getting their relationship accepted by the public, yaddigg?

* * *

><p><strong>Wave: <strong>Here are some reviewers that asked for said major story :P They will remain anonymous.

* * *

><p>-This chapter was better than the last one. Do you know where you want to go with this story though? Major problem that will get resolved and so on? A story will get boring if you have no main goal at the end and a conflict in the middle. Just a suggestion cause I know how that goes, been there! ;)<p>

-Sorry but I agreed with (anonymous).

* * *

><p><strong>Tails: <strong>It's these two, mostly, that inspired her to write an epic story! Yay! So she won't be totally abandoning _It's a Technician Thing_ and will occasionally add to it when the need arises, or when she's stumped for ideas.

**TD: **Until then, she's going to be working on designing a major plot starring Tails, Wave and ME as the main characters.

**Wave: **I'm not so sure about TD.

**TD: **WHAT DID YOU SAY?

**Wave: **Nothing!

**Tails: **Until then, keep reviewing her story! She wants to reach at least 400 reviews before she moves to create her plot.

**Wave: **For those _really _curious minds. She doesn't have it all planned out yet, she's just got a picture in her head. It's most likely to be AU, like in a world where _Sonic Riders _was the main Sonic game instead of a spin off. She's painting us out in a place that's all grungy and Sonic Underground-ish. Except hopefully it isn't going to turn out like that disaster.

**Tails: **Extreme Gear, workshops, mechanic lingo and chocolate innuendos are still at an all time high, they're just going to be associated with things like basketball, raves, skateboards, graffiti, parcour, DJs, street violence, drag racing and the like. Savvy?

**Wave: ***still reading script* Oh my God! Since Shadow's a mechanic too we get to see him shirtless!

**Tails: **We always see him shirtless... we see him pantsless too.

**Wave: **Yeah, but that's in canon, here Mobians wear clothes.

**Tails: ***strokes imaginary beard* That is _fascinating. _

**TD: **Damn. And she was even planning to make some promotional art to it... once she figured out the title.

...

**TD: **I... _know _people. Let's figure out how to move her carcass so that we can take her to a necromancer.

**Tails: **... How does one come across a necromancer?

**TD: **... There's a time and a place... here is not the place.

**Wave: **So remember, Domi isn't abandoning you!~ And as soon as she's resurrected, she'll be starting an all _new _plot to feature us! Whoo! I'm so excited.

**Tails: **Speak for yourself, you're not the one dragging a lifeless corpse around.

**TD: **And don't forget to review with your opinions!


	45. glasses

**xx.d; **Hai guys! I've been spending a lot of time figuring out the plot and representation of the characters in the new story, and I have to ask some questions after this little filler of a chapter.

Although it wasn't really a chapter, thanks to **Pixelated Firefly**, **The Guy in the Background**, **LordCooler**, **Ultima**, **Angel-of-Energy**, **TheFunGuy**, **MapksElsl**, **superechidna**, **HalfWright**, **cutelittlefreak**, **Spartan228Zakai**, **Izaackjl**, **9string**, **Synobis** and **Ficfan412** for commenting on the Authors Note, (holy shit that's a lot of names.)

Figure's that it takes the story closing to get the lurkers to review! I love you guys :)

_Ultima- _Where are these laws of sexiness? I'd like to read them. lol. Kidding, I know they probably don't exist because the only person that's suited to write it is Shadow of course!

_MapksElsl- _I totally agree with you! Especially mine because they're jumbled all over the place.

_Synobis- _Aww, thank you! You're far too kind :) I think they make for an awesome pairing too! They have a lot in common but their personalities are so different. I'm reading _Cycle of Ages_ right now, it's very interesting. Thank you for suggesting it to me.

_Ficfan412- _I'm glad to see you're so enthusiastic!

Thanks to **Exploder **for the prompt. And I've drawn a little Tails + Glasses eye candy for you, but it's some of the concept work for the new story.

**Enjoi.**

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_Glasses_

They were so… _distracting. _

There wasn't any point in getting Wave to concentrate on her extreme gear commission now, not when her attention was being yanked away every single time he decided to flip the page. It was a small _slick _little sound, but every time he did it, her heart would stop and her eyes would slide over to where he was sitting, studying some text book or the like. He had exams soon and being the goody-two-shoes that he was, Tails had already started studying, prompting the use of his long forgotten glasses when his eyes got too irritated.

It was just bent metal and two glass lenses but for some reason they were just so _alluring. _

He blinked tiredly; an action she couldn't help but think was absolutely adorable, when his eyes turned on her. She blinked too and turned her attention back to the extreme gear before her. But she couldn't help turning back, they were just so… was it different? No it wasn't, because Tails wore eye gear all the time, goggles and sunglasses mostly. But he looked _different _this time.

She screwed a nut onto the board, deciding that she could rewire the control panel tomorrow. She crossed her arms on the table and out of the corner of her eye and observed Tails a little longer. There was something so undeniably… she didn't want to even _think _that word-about the way that he wore them or about the way that he looked when he did.

The metal was sleek, black, and bent behind his muzzle instead of his ears. The lenses distorted his eyes, magnified that magnificent sky blue flecked with specks of white diamond and made them seem larger, more… innocent. The rested right over his snout, slipping to touch that cute button nose when he looked down, and ended at the other side of his head, unseen by her but no doubt the same.

He closed his eyes so that she could make out the feint traces of black eyelash against his white muzzle, before they snapped open to stare at her, "Yes?"

The tone was rather impatient, and a little annoyed, but it was mostly amused if she was hearing things correctly, she was too busy blushing as brightly as a Christmas tree, "Ah-um-"

"Getting a little tongue tied there, Wave?" he smirked, returning his attention back to his book at the same time that she blurted out her sentence.

"You look nice… with the glasses I mean," she added swiftly, turning away and hiding her face in her arms. She looked back when she heard him laugh quietly, closing his book.

"That's actually the first time anyone's ever told me that."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I haven't worn my glasses since elementary school, and then I was always being teased for being smart and having four eyes, do you get it?"

She rolled her eyes, leaning her head into her hands as she locked eyes with him, unembarrassed this time, "I was teased for a manner of different reasons, Tails. Being smart was one of them though…" she mused quietly, "and I didn't mean you look nice… in that way. I mean you look more appealing-"

"What?" he asked, a little alarmed, tipping the glasses down so that he could see over them, his muzzle painting itself just that slightest bit pink.

"No! I meant… eugh… without the band t-shirts, the ripped jeans and the indie bracelets; you look more approachable."

The basked in the warm glow of the statement, hearts warming from the inside out before…

"That's good," he nodded, lips turning up in a smirk, "for a second I thought you had a glasses fetish."

"Uh _what?_"

* * *

><p><strong>xx.d; <strong>Alright, so here are the questions I'd be forever grateful for you guys to answer because it would help me define the new story.

**x **_How do you feel about AU's?_

**x **_How would you feel if I was to introduce OC's that would eventually gain major roles?(attemptably well written ones.) _

**x **_Do you know what a character audition is? And if you do, would you be willing to do it for my story? (I'll give you credit and everything.)_

**x **_(This is one for the lurkers!) Would you feel more incentive to review if I said I was going to send to you-and you alone-concept art of the story and characters that other readers wouldn't be able to see until much later?_

**x **_Would any of you feel like reviewing if I asked you random questions about yourself? (ie. What's your favourite colour? What's your favourite Sonic Game? ect.) Or would that just annoy you?_

**x **_How many of you have played any of the __Sonic Riders__ trilogy? How many of you have played Sonic '06?_

**x **_How would you feel about the majority of the main characters living together? (I seriously just had the random thought about Sonic and Shadow waking up and then fighting each other for the bathroom.)_

**x **_When _**Kobiee **_was taking over for me, did any of you actually look up the music in between the lines? Or was that just a waste of time?_

**x **_This story will admittedly have a darker and drearier plot compared to __It's a Technician Thing__ with gore, angst, character death and a kill-or-be-killed type of outlook on life, all in the underground. How does that make you feel? I don't mean that there's going to be /no/ romance and humour (there's probably going to be a lot of sarcasm, slapstick and black humour), just less of it compared to this story. It's heavily reliant on the themes friendship and hurt/comfort though._

**x **_And finally, who's for reverting Tails back to his original personality! Vs. my newer, snarkier, wittier version? _

Okay! Now that that's over, I have one more question I need to ask. There weren't a lot of people that reviewed to my last for-fun question (the one that earns people a picture! A dedication picture!) so I apologise to the people that answered that one, but I'm asking a different and more relevant question this time; **Has **_**It's a Technician Thing **_**changed your perspective of any of the characters? As in… if you hated Jet at the beginning, do you like him now? Or if you liked Amy or Cosmo, have they changed in your opinion, and now you don't like them? **I just wanted to know out of curiosity.

Your opinion is important to me, so review with your replies!


	46. flight

**xx.d; **Haha. This is fun. I've almost got the plot down, now I just need a sequence of events! I love the excitement of a new story, it sends shivers down my spine. Now… the biggest conundrum of all… _the title! _Gods, this is hard.

Hey guys, judging _just _by the coolness of the title, which one sounds the best?

1. Walking on Air

2. For Your Entertainment

3. Welcome to the New War

4. Anthem of our Dying Day

All of them have the same amount of value to the story, different aspects of it… I just can't choose between them. What do you think?

Alright, this one is once again from **Exploder**, it took a while since I was trying to consider the logistics of it. And when all else fails, use MAGIC right? This chapter requires an element that could be used in the new story. Sqquueeee! This is fun. It was a lot easier to write since I got the movie **Rio **on DVD. Gods, I love it. (I didn't know Anne Hathaway could sing until I saw that movie.) Wave moves her wings like Jewel.

Thanks **to ChaoCream, Exploder, A Ugly faic, Izaackjl, brave kid, cutelittlefreak, Ficfan412, Angel-of-Energy, LordCooler, Angel-of-Energy, The Guy in the Background, SmallSpek, Spartan228Zakai, WelshScot** and **Pixelated Firefly** for reviewing the last chapter and providing me with your answers.

**Enjoi.**

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_Flight_

It was something that he'd been trying to figure out since their first encounter really, one _would _question why three riders would be defying their nature in the first place. Birds _flew. _It was as simple as the zero of gravitational potential energy above point 'h' equaling the force required of the kinetic potency (or to people like Sonic and Knuckles; 1 + 1 = 2). But the weird thing was, it took him years to finally witness exactly how the Babylon Rogues hid their wings.

_Magic?_

That was what was so annoying about it; while Wave was calm and accepting of it (she'd had years to get used to it after all) he was left scratching his ears and doing endless calculations in his head to try and acknowledge that there was a way to _do _such a thing. It wasn't really possible was it? But he couldn't deny the truth behind what he could see with his eyes, or what he could feel beneath his fingertips.

"Go ahead and try, Kitty," she grinned, waving her wings about like giant fans, "I've researched from advanced alchemy to nano technology and somewhere in the middle of all the calculations I encountered a road block. There is no physical way to transmute organic living matter, store it, and then turn it back without fault or injury, without the help of magic."

He couldn't argue with that! Not when it made so much sense… or as much sense as it could make in that situation. He darted forward to skim his hands against her feathers again and she skipped back laughing, "Stop it! It's ticklish!"

She stretched her wings out for better inspection, and he felt along the ridge where her arm was. It was still all out; her hand, her forearm, her bicep, but from her arms extended a soft web like membrane that gradually gave way to feathers, feathers that formed _wings_. The back of her hands, her wrist joints gave way to the longest and most powerful plumes, which would have been the wing tips of any normal non-Mobian bird, and a curtain of soft violet down fell in graceful curves until they met the back of her shoulder blades.

"Are you serious? You just…"

Wave picked up a small metal band from the ground. It was gold and inscribed with small little scripture symbols that he couldn't read. He really wanted to learn but every single time he remembered to ask, Wave always seemed super busy, "Here, it says;

_Shields keep the heart of Babylon,  
>They hide us from our foes,<br>They keep us safe,  
>Fight fire with ice to save us from our woes.<em>

_Sing and live another day,  
>Sing, birdie, sing.<em>

_Secrets of the past are treasures,  
>Preserved and alive, they're precious things,<br>There's heart behind this bracelet,  
>So you may reveal your wings.<em>

_Sing, birdie, sing…_"

He blanched for a minute, and for a little while there was only the brief whisper of wind winding through evergreens before he broke the pleasant silence, "Really? All that, on the bracelet?"

"Yep," she flapped her wings absently, wondering how Tails could just blatantly stare at her like that. His eyes were as round as dinner plates, even his tails had stopped moving, "What?"

"It's in lyrical format? Is there a song that comes with the melody?"

"Yep! My grandad used to sing it to me all the time."

"Will you sing it for me?" he asked eagerly, clasping his hands together.

"No way! See, I'm onto you, Prower. Even the melody has chemical equations that are equivalent to the alphabetical notes on the scale. Those provide a section of the solution to transmute the matter, but comply with that part alone and then you're going to be hurting the original being. Plus, you're just going to be asking me to repeat the melody over and over again."

"No I won't!" he grinned, "I'd just record you!"

She rolled her eyes, "Babylonian technology has found notes hidden in the tenor, mezzo-soprano and soprano vocal range that don't exist in current musical scales. If you put the notes that an ordinary voice recorder, you're still not going to be able to recognise the tones, not unless you magically encounter a siren, or another Babylonian with intense musical talent."

"We came here to fly, not to discuss my complete and utter _lack _of musical ability."

"You pointed it out, Short Stuff."

They sat at the top of a cliff at the moment; it's where Wave had removed her bracelet. It sat hidden under her gloves all this time, but he had never noted the significance of it. As soon as she'd dropped it, her arms had started to glow so that he couldn't see the transformation properly. He'd looked away when it became too bright and when he looked back, she had wings. It was really disappointing.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by Wave, who flapped her wings twice as if trying to get used to a sore muscle, "Are you just going to stare, or are you going to fly?"

"I can't help it," he shrugged, laughing, "They're just so beautiful."

And they were, shaped delicately with beautiful feathers that blended from violet to purple with accents of pink at some wing tips. He just couldn't stop staring at them, how spectacular would they look in flight?

"Do they just disappear when you put the bracelet back on?"

"Yep."

She bent down to pick up her bracelet. Jet and Storm also had this magical artifact. Predator Hawk did not, he supposed it was because the villain was not Babylonian. She stuffed the loop into her pocket before taking a running leap at the cliff, diving off in a perfect arc. He faltered, heart stopping a moment as he envisioned Wave falling to her death when a blur of violet shot up into the sky. His neck ducked up with a worrying snap trying to follow the purple speck when he realised that it was Wave, looking magnificent as she arced and swooped through the clouds.

She laughed and turned back to him, "Wow, this feels refreshing." She had to beat her wings to stay afloat, but it looked effortless, _fun _for her. And her infectious smile made its way onto his face as well. He made a running leap for the cliff just as his tails started to spin, and by the time he reached the end, he was already walking on air, "You've been flyin' so much longer than me, Kitty, are you trying to tell me you still can't keep up?"

His answer wasn't even a wing beat away, "You're kidding right?"

"First one back to your workshop buys pizza!" And in one mighty wing thrust, she propelled herself forward with an immense amount of speed, leaving behind a gust so powerful that he was pushed back a little. Wave about faced in one smooth curve to stick her tongue out at him, and still her beats never faltered. She was goddess-like in all her feminine grace. Her body, her hair trailing behind her, and eyes were like melting ice glittering when they reflected the sun. He was stunned and entranced with the way that she moved.

"Prower! Have you fallen asleep back there?"

She shook his head to clear his mind, "Nah! I'm just... giving you a head start?"

The swallow shrugged her shoulders, raising an eyebrow, but her lips quirked up all the same. It was a dazzling smile that caused his heart skip beats and his cheeks to flush, but he could have blamed it on the sun, so it was alright, "Wow, that's polite of you."

In a second she was at least three hundred meters away from her, and Tails regretted his momentary lapse in concentration.

Guess they were having pepperoni tonight.

* * *

><p><strong>xx.d; <strong>Reference to a previous chapter! Oh, and do I have a beta lurking somewhere in my readers? Does anybody want to do it for my new story? (And I'm like a beta no0b, so you have to be pretty patient with me.) Anyone up to it?


	47. ladies and gentleman, an announcement

**xx.d; HalfWright** requested some humour. I thought it would be good for me since I've been in the dumps because it's so bloody rainy over here!

Since I can't think of anything original because my creative gas tank's run out finishing the plot outline for what-is-now-officially-called _Anthem of our Dying Day_ I'm taking an idea from **JenxtheJinx **on Youtube and breaking the fourth wall again (I really like to tear it down, don't I?).

Thanks to **TheFunGuy, The Guy in the Background, Spartan228Zakai, ChaoCream, HalfWright, Pixelated Firefly, Synobis, Ficfan412, A Ugly faic, brave kid, Eidorian999, LordCooler, Exploder, cutelittlefreak, xXCookieGiverXx and Angel-of-Energy **for reviewing the last chapter.

I hope I don't get sued for this. Oh, and there's also a reference to **Infamousplot**'s _Ask Tails Doll _fic in here.

**Enjoi.**

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_We Interrupt Your Regularly Schedules Program-_

One Wave the Swallow and Tails the fox were sitting in two comfy arm chairs in what seemed to be Tails' living room, having the fireplace burning quietly in the background. And if one's eyes didn't deceive them, Tails seemed to have grown a moustache overnight. Either that or it was fake. Yep. This narrator is going with the first option.

Tails grinned at the camera, which had miraculously appeared out of nowhere, and stroked some kind of imaginary beard, "Hello viewers! And welcome to another episode of 'Twin Tailed Terror, and his Evil Accomplice'."

Wave allowed herself a little bow, and blew on her pipe, which released a steady stream of bubbles for maximum comedic effect.

"Today, we won't be indulging ourselves in chocolate, boiled candy, or other assorted debaucheries."

"We won't, Miles?" she asked, adjusting her monocle, which had _also _just appeared out of nowhere.

"No we won't… _dammit _it doesn't work if you don't have another alias doesn't it?" the fox shook himself of such idiocies and stared at the camera once again, "Today, we have a new segment named, 'What Wave found in the other guys rooms', and would you believe it? The items stolen, where done so by none other than-"

"Me!" Wave said, throwing up her arms.

"Now is not the time for gloating Wave," Tails replied cattily, and Wave threw her monocle at him.

"It's time for us to go through what I have… _'acquired' _by snooping through the other's rooms. And let me note that if something… _seems _altered, it actually isn't. Okay?" she laughed (like a stuck up snob) and ended up spitting out her tea, which had _also _miraculously come from nowhere.

Tails poked the through the pile of assorted junk with one of the pokers from the fireplace (just in case something jumped out an bit him, or gave him some kind of viral disease) and ended up stabbing into something that hooked onto the end of the poking rod. Tails hoisted it up for better inspection and almost shrieked when he realised what it was. No… it wasn't Tails Doll.

"Alright, it seems that you went into Amy's room," the fox observed, handing the poking stick to Wave and examining the strange artefact through a kaleidoscope.

"Um no… actually that frilly pair of pink underwear is _not _from Amy's room."

"Cream?"

"No."

"Rouge?"

"Try someone with a Y chromosome, Tails." she stated in a monotone.

He gasped dramatically, placing his hands over his mouth and turning back to the camera, "It can't be!"

"Oh yes it can," Wave replied in complete seriousness, "They belong to… Espio the chameleon."

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Well. This has been an exciting discovery, let's see what else they have in this pile," Tails grinned poking the stick further into the pile, when he heard an pained _croak_ noise. He leant forward a little more and moved his stick a little more gently until, "Oh god. I really _can't _believe you stole _Froggy _from Big's room."

"He looked lonely," Wave shrugged, turning her attention from the frog in Tails' hands to the pile again. She thought she saw the rummage move for a second, and that made her feel uneasy. The swallow dismissed it as her imagination.

"Do you know what this means?"

"No, I don't."

"It means we're going to be brutally mutilated with a fishing pole. That's what it means."

"That's fantastic. Just keep shifting through the items; I'll take care of the frog."

Tails poked around the pile once again, fishing out a tub of _Ben and Jerry's_ Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream, "Well, this is peculiar."

"C'mon Tails. It isn't that much of a guess who _this _belongs to."

"It's another Y chromosome isn't it?"

"Here's another clue," she winked at the audience, "when I entered the room, he was in his shower, I tripped over _ring bands _and the song 'All by Myself' was playing in the stereo."

"Oh my!" Tails laughed, "To all the Shadow fan girls out there, you now know what the Ultimate Life Forms favourite ice cream flavour is!"

"And let's continue on, before he figures out that his ice cream is gone," Wave giggled, "Hey! That rhymed!"

Tails speared into the pile of rubbish, fishing out a toy whale.

"I'm not even going to let you guess for that one. It belongs to Eggman."

"Oh really?" Tails looked peculiarly at the camera for a second before he heard a massive explosion outside, "That doesn't sound good."

"Eggman probably found out about his precious pet whale. I heard the last robot that tampered with it went missing!" Wave announced happily.

"Well then why did you take it?"

"To piss Eggman off," she replied matter-o-factly.

"Let's just fish out the last item before-"

The fire extinguished, and in the room, the only light was a bobbing red jewel. Guess what it was humming?

"Alright!" Wave sighed and Tails could see her throwing her arms into the air, "So apparently I picked up the haunted Tails Doll by mistake? Forgive and forget right?"

"That depends, which is better? Having our souls taken, being brutally beaten with a fishing rod, facing Eggman's arsenal head on, dealing with a fetish deprived chameleon, or an ice cream deprived Shadow?"

It didn't even take three seconds for Wave to reply, "Let's go face that arsenal!"

* * *

><p><strong>xx.d; <strong>I hope this was amusing enough. It was a little difficult to write. I'd 'ave gone with the fishing rod.


	48. forgetfulness

**xx.d; **Okay, just a short little filler for Tails' birthday. (Oh look at that It's the write grammar! Haha, I make myself lol.) Oh, and it might not be the 12th of October over where you live, but it is in Australia.

_BTW, I know that I used the wrong 'right', right? LOL. _But my wonderful betas for my other story have made me realise how much of a grammatical klutz I am. It isn't _too _bad to read guys, is it?

Do you know how stupid I am? I only realise that I had gained four hundred reviews _today. _That was my goal and it totally just flew over my head *face palm*. Thank you guys soooo much for supporting me through my mental breakdowns (I'm a morphine muppet!) and nursing this story. Ahh the good old days when this was just an iddy-bitty one-shot… *sighs*

Anyway, for those of you that live under rocks, a) Hello there! and b) _Anthem of Our Dying Day_ is officially underway, all you gotta do is hit my profile and look for it! First chapter's up!

Thanks to **superechidna**, **cutelittlefreak**, **Ficfan412**, **Hookemhorns12**, **LordCooler**, **HalfWright**, **Exploder**, **Sonic Speed Blue Blur 23**, **Izaackjl**, **Pixelated Firefly**, **Ultima**, **A Ugly faic**, **brave kid**, **SmallSpek** and **Spartan228Zakai** for reviewing the last chapter.

Sorry for the lack of responses, I've been reading up on my how-not-to-make-a-Gary-Stu material.

**(EDIT) _ultimateCCC _has told me that Tails' Birthday is really on October 16. Haha! Whoops. Better early than late right?**

**Enjoi.**

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_Forgetfulness_

Determination and forgetfulness were traits that she had associated the fox for a very long time, and even now, looming on the eve of his fifteenth birthday, he was still known for these qualities. There was just something odd about a fox that could recite the periodic table, proton count, electron mass and valency numbers and all, at the top of his head, but couldn't remember something as simple and concrete as his own birthday.

She'd stirred him awake this morning, running her hands through his hair until his eyes cracked open. Immediately he had been suspicious to see such a luxurious spread of breakfast foods including waffles and a bacon and egg McMuffin (the stuff of gods). He rubbed at his eyes tiredly; something she had to admit was completely adorable, but never out loud. Then he turned to her, narrowing them as he tried to figure out why she was being so nice.

"It's poisoned, isn't it?" he asked with a monotone, and he prodded the waffles with his fork. Wave rolled her eyes and tore a piece off, tossing it in her beak and chewing it.

When she was finished she grinned and said, "I can't believe you would think such horrible things about me Tails. Can't a friend cook another breakfast once in a while?"

"Not unless the other wants something…" he turned back to food, "Is there chocolate in the coffee?"

"Why don't you taste it and find out?" he did so, and when it was done he shrugged and decided that the rest of the food might be safe to eat as well.

She'd realised he didn't know it was his birthday, after that and decided to take full advantage of it. While he was eating she set out his supplies for him, knowing he was going to be working on his machines all day. She sat down in her spot diligently and watched him work, making polite conversation and not bad mouthing him at all today.

She was so tempted to point out the mistakes he was making in his work, until he started to look to her _right after _he had made those mistakes. She deduced that he was making them on purpose so that she had excuse to be a catty bitch about them, but she held her tongue.

Sometime around lunch, most of his friends came over, even Jet and Storm opted to crash the gathering that even Tails didn't consider a party. She kept the entire birthday deal hush-hush and he didn't even question the fact that everyone was eating cake for lunch. She thought this was hilarious.

Tails had grown tired of the whispered giggles and laughing behind his back, so he pulled her upstairs to ask her what the hell was going on. She dug out a huge box that she had been hiding under the bed she shoved it towards him. He stared at her suspiciously again before opening it and gasping at what was inside; Messerschmitt Bf.108. A _skyhawk _engine.

"The rest of the plane is downstairs," she informed him. She could see his eyes tearing. He had wanted one for so long now… do he could marvel at it before upgrading it.

"Oh gods… someone died… or you guys have done something really, _really _bad and you're trying to compensate with gifts or…"

Wave laughed and swept him into a hug, kissing his temple lightly, whispering in his ear, _"Happy Birthday…"_

They were silent for over three minutes as the information sunk in, and then…

"_WHAT? WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME?"_

* * *

><p><strong>xx.d; <strong>And _yes, _in the last three years I really _have _forgotten when my birthday is.


	49. this is halloween

**xx.d; **I'm sorry if your responses have kind of gotten lost in translation, I swear I'm juggling eighteen things at once here.

Thanks to all that have reviewed the last chapters. This Arc will end on the 1st of November, which would still be 31st of October for most of my reviewers.

**TD: **Author-ess would like you to note how she will be repeatedly breaking the fourth wall during this chapter, and making continuous references to other things.

**Anything that sounds like it is most likely not mine, is most likely not mine. **

**Enjoi.**

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_This is Halloween_

It had to be something truly ironic, or something completely cruel when the first thing he spied in that haunted house was Jet, with a rope hanging around his neck as he dangled from the ceiling, and the first thing he thought was 'Hang in there, Baby.'

He didn't know he'd said that out loud.

"Dammit Prower, you're such a fucking prick! You know that?"

"Oh look at that, Jettison's still alive," Tails replied dryly, placing a hand on his hip.

"Yep, I don't need to die until that stupid site that Domino likes writing on officially reached November 23. So I'll be swinging here like a corpse until then."

Tails retracted his head and wondered about Jet's mental health for the third time that month. Who was Domino?

"You better go before either TD or Wrinkly-Face gets to you, or worst-"

_Who's Wrinkly-Face?_

"What could be worst than Tails Doll coming after me and trying to steal my soul?" The yellow fox asked incredulously.

"Well, the Author could decide to lock you in one of these abandoned rooms and play _nothing _but _Crazy Frog _by Axel F for three hours straight, or you could run into Shadow. He's in a homicidal mood today, last I heard it was because someone stole his _Ben and Jerry's_ Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream."

"What kind of sick pervert must you be to remember the exact brand and flavour?" He asked, trying to defend the fact that he _knew _who had stolen the ice cream.

"Hey, I'm no Shadow/Jet fan," Jet replied, narrowing his eyes suspiciously, "but that's what it says in the script I have here."

"Drop it," Tails requested and the hawk let the papers flutter to the ground.

'**xxdomino's' Halloween Special Script**

_Starring TD, Freddy Krueger, The Grudge,_ _Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, Katie Featherston (Paranormal Activity) and Bud._

Beware, or else Universal will be on your ass in like, three seconds._  
><em>

He flipped through various pages, skimming through various situations that he would have to endure, most of them sounding scary, physically and emotionally crippling. The last page frightened him the most.

**TAILS **dies.

"What? The main character can't _die! _It's against fiction rules."

"It's like, standard protocol for horror movies, Tails." Jet replied sarcastically.

"You _can't _just randomly change it to horror!" Tails exclaimed, "It says so on the Author's Page. Rated _T. _Genre: _Humour _and _Friendship!_"

"She's been adapting the story to slowly accommodate the horror genre as well. I've read through that script many times in my brief time hanging from the ceiling, and you'll be embarking on Horror movie clichés and crossovers until you finally reach your gruesome end, ya got me?" The green hawk laughed, using the rope hanging around his neck as a swing.

"No!"

"Haven't you been seeing it Prower? She's been squeezing in Tails Doll since Chapter 29 so that she could see you brutally murdered somewhere around Chapter 54."

"Well that isn't very nice. Does this Author have no life?" Tails growled.

"She does, and it's why you haven't gotten murdered sooner. Now, don't bad mouth the them, do you know what happens to main characters that incur their wrath?"

"What?" Tails asked cockily.

"There are vast possibilities, since authors are the incredibly creative type… or they claim to be, whatever. She could have you neutered."

"_No!_"

"Yes, she can. She can also summon any Sonic Character that she wishes and have them do horrible, _horrible _things to you."

"Oh yeah?" Tails smirked cockily, "Like what?"

In a puff of magic red smoke, Eggman appeared, _shirtless_, dancing around a stripper pole. His rolls of fat bounced along to the tune of _Baby _by Justin Bieber. He pranced around it, throwing glitter into the air and tossing inhibition to the wind. He looked like a fat Kesha plus a moustache.

"Work it, Baby!"

Tails screamed and clutched his bleeding eyes to make the horrible image go away, "ALRIGHT! I GIVE! JUST MAKE IT _STOP!_" In another puff of red smoke, Eggman was gone, and was replaced with a small little rubber Eggman doll.

Tails panted and Jet smirked, "See what I mean?"

The fox wiped away his tears and nodded, "Gotcha, be nice to the author or… bad stuff like… like that happens."

"Okay, so if I remember correctly, it says you have to go through these doors and that's where your journey begins."

Tails looked down the script and nodded, he was right. If he tried to avoid his path of death though, then wouldn't it be better if he could avoid what it said on the script? The fox looked around the cathedral like room and deduced that there was nowhere else to go and thus started to stride through the double doors.

"Ah wait!"

Tails turned around just in time to catch a belt, one normally loaded with the shells of firearms, but this one… was suspiciously loaded with different kinds of… chocolate.

"You're going to need this."

He nodded solemnly and walked through finding himself in a room with Silver, Wave and Metal Sonic. One a TV monitor in the corner of a room, a black and red hedgehog, who was obviously Shadow, wore a Spiderman mask and coughed to gain their attention. Once Tails was cleared of the doorway the doors slammed shut. He tried to open them, but they wouldn't budge.

"Nice of you to join us Prower."

It sounded suspiciously like…

"OH MY GOD! IT'S SAIX FROM KINGDOM HEARTS!" Silver screeched like a school girl, pointing at the television screen.

"Shut up!" Shadow demanded, "Here you might address me as Jigsaw. And I'm here to ask you-"

"You know we're still going to address you as _Shadow_, right?" Wave interjected.

"I said, SHUT UP!"

"Yeah, whatever," Tails rolled his eyes.

"Do you wanna play a little game?"

"Oh, I love games!" Silver cried, "What kind of game? Super Mario? Halo? Prince of Persia?"

"No!"

"What? Why not? Is it on PS3?"

"No."

"Xbox?"

"No."

"…Wii?"

"No!"

"Is it a board game?" Metal Sonic asked.

"No!"

"I _lurve _Monolpoly," the white hedgehog waved his hand in an overly gay manner, "Just putting it out there."

"NO! This is a game about whether you _live _or _die!_" The non-Shadow insisted.

"So…" Tails cocked his head to the side, "Call of Duty?"

_To be continued..._

* * *

><p><strong>xx.d; <strong>Join us for the next installment of 'xx.d's Halloween Nightmare!' coming to an inbox near you!

Props to _Romantically Apocalyptic_ for the 'Hang in there, Baby' joke, to **Cacti** for Dancing Eggman, and **Nigahiga** for the conversation in 'Saw XII'.


	50. this is halloween ii

**xx.d; **Okay, managed to squeeze out another one. It's hard because I'm not used to the 'uploading every day' thing anymore.

Thanks to **Pixelated Firefly**, **Ultima**, **The Guy in the Background**, **SmallSpe**k, **Ficfan412**, **LordCooler**, **cutelittlefreak**, **Angel-of-Energy**, **HalfWright** and **ChaoCream** for reviewing the last chapter.

**Anything that doesn't sound like it belongs to me doesn't belong to me. **Sorry, I have to go heavy on the disclaimer since I'm pretty much picking apart horror movies and the like.

I'm not really looking for critique in this. So if you don't like the blatant randomness you don't have to comment on it.

**Enjoi.**

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_This is Halloween II_

"The plan is to break the vials that are above you, and squeeze into the grates at the wall. If you do not managed to get into the grates in time, you will be incinerated," Shadow-ahem!-_Jigsaw _stated.

"Wow, stealing the ice cream _really _took a toll on him," Wave admitted, staring at the vials hanging from the ceiling and pulling them down calmly.

"You have thirty seconds."

The inhabitance of the cell swore at the same time and started to break the glass at a faster pace. Tails found a key within ten seconds of being incinerated, already smelling the fumes of the gas; he grabbed Silver's hand, "Here! I'm small enough so that we can both fit in the cell."

"Good idea!"

They were both safely in the cell of the wall, as were Wave and Metal Sonic. But with three seconds to go, a spinning ball of red light appeared and the familiar Tails Doll appeared floating behind the bars, opening the cell door with one magical wave of it's stitched paw and flew in to drag Silver by the leg, out into the barbeque.

"Shit!" Tails lunged forward to take Silver back, but the Tails Doll was too strong.

"Remember me!" Silver cried, before the flames hit, "As the Queen of England!"

When the incineration was over, nothing of Silver remained, which was a little odd because they were expecting a charred corpse, "Hey! What's the deal? Where's the body?"

Omochao appeared out of nowhere speaking in it's stupid auto-tuned voice, "The Author would like the main characters to note that this story is rated T, and anything describing mutant corpses would be going beyond that."

"You could have said that when she was writing _Anthem of Our Dying Day_!" Tails growled, slapping Omochao away so it could annoy someone else.

Wave rolled her eyes, but they looked back to see Metal Sonic wiping oil from his cheeks as if they were tears, "They were such… touching last words."

The swallow gawped at him, "But he _wasn't _the Queen of England!"

Somewhere from the land where dead Sonic characters lie, among Maria Robotnick and Tommy Turtle, Silver shouted, "BLASPHEMY!" to which Tommy agreed, nodding his head saying, "Amen, Sister."

Tails shook his head and opened his eyes, finding himself in stuck in an abandoned forest.

"Ah shit," Wave frowned next to him, "what famous horror movie icon's movie takes place by a lake?"

And then, sliding out of the bushes came… Metal Knuckles! With a hockey stick!

Tails, Wave and Metal Sonic started running… or flying, whatever the hell that robots do in their sick attempt to run as fast as organics.

"This isn't fair!" Tails whined, "Horror movies are at least meant to have explicit sex scenes in the beginning to make up for the carnage that follows! But _nooo_ we don't even get to see hot girls skinny-dipping! We just move straight to stabbing people! Everyone knows the Asian dies first!"

"Stop being racist! We were all created by Japanese people, so we're technically _all _Asian!" Metal Sonic growled.

Wave dodged a quick swipe by 'Jason' and replied by saying, "Marine has an Australian accent!"

"Because they _want _her to!" he cried, stopping himself right before they hit the edge of the lake. Metal stopped because he was a robot, but Tails and Wave dived in right before the edge of Jason-I MEAN Metal Knuckles sliced the robot short with his razor sharp… hockey stick.

"That is physically impossible!" Wave growled before Tails hopped on her and ducked her head below water, unfortunately Metal Knuckles were already on them and he dived into the water when…

In a strange 'paranormal' even, the image before them distorted and they landed in a splendid, lavish room with… camera's set up everywhere.

"What is this?" Wave asked.

"What do you mean 'What is this?'! Aren't you a little concerned that Friday the 13th just distorted before our eyes?" he screeched when there was an abrupt thump from everywhere.

"Quick Tails! What is this movie?" she asked urgently.

"Why are you asking me?"

"Because you like to watch horror movies!"

There was another thump, but this one sounded closer, and there was still no proof of what was making that noise. To two scientists, this was really, really creepy… and implausible.

"It's from that new one!"

"_What _new one?"

The thump was even louder this time!

"The one where they record a demon possessing humans and causing a general disturbance at night!"

"PARANORMAL ACTIVITY!"

Tails bravely darted into the kitchen and found a bag of flour, ripping the top off and spreading the white powder everywhere.

"You're right! I saw them do this in the story!"

There was another huge thump. They gulped and started trudging upstairs. Tails, being the manly man that he was, checked the rooms until he returned from one room, pale as a sheet and looking like he was on the verge of crying.

"Tails! What's wrong?" Wave asked.

"It's… it's…" he stuttered, eyes glazed over and absolutely horrified.

"Speak to me!"

Tails started crying, "How could the author do this to me! I'm only twelve!"

"What happened? Is there a demon in there? Is it all bloody and horrible? Is there dead bodies everywhere?"

The young fox stopped long enough to wail mournfully as he waved goodbye to his innocence as he screamed, "FROGGY AND OMOCHAO WERE HAVING SEX! That's where all the god forsaken thumping is coming from."

"And I thought it was something threatening," said a new voice. They turned around and the possessed Katie, from Paranormal Activity was leaning on the banister of the stairs. She grinned manically, a thick butcher's knife in one of her hands as she lunged for the two."

In the back of Tails head he wondered, _How can a robot even do that?_


	51. this is halloween iii

**xx.d; **This is really all a bunch of crap strewn together.

Don't own most of it!

**Enjoi.**

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>

_This is Halloween III_

"Fuck, now she's just using the chapter split ups to change the entire situation," Tails sighed, looking around at the forgotten landscape.

"I don't even remember this horror movie."

"Classic one, it's called 'Halloween'."

"That's so appropriate," she rolled her eyes, "why is the Author even writing this? She's Australian."

"She's obsessed with all things scary, and she needed some way to finish this story with a bang," Tails replied.

"What? It's ending!"

"No… she said she was putting it on HIATUS. I know right? It's a scary word."

"Why didn't anyone tell me!"

"What do you mean? I thought you were there when we announced it in the Author Note."

"I thought that was a bad dream!"

**Did someone say 'Bad Dream'? **A creepy voice in their head resounded and they screeched as TD swooped down from the cloudy skies with a glove that resembled talons. But as soon as he was there, he was gone again. Tails shook his fist at him, not forgiving him for murdering Silver.

"Well yeah, she's already started the new story, you know? That's why she called that 'Meeting of the Characters' together, you know, where we met that Caleb guy?"

"Yeah… he was cute. Too bad he was such a dick."

"'Kobiee', The Author's best friend, said he has a pretty wicked storyline. Here! I can show you the script! It says here that he-"

The Author's voice boomed from the skies, _YOU WILL NOT REVEAL SPOILERS FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER!_

Wave scowled at the sky and gave the Author the finger. Tails stepped away from her instantly, "Why are you doing that?"

"Because the Author is pissed, and she's going to get you later."

"Oh yeah? Well I'm reading them anyway!..." her eyes scanned the paper when she found something really, really strange, "WTF IS THIS! Storm has _character development! IMPOSSIBLE!_"

Tails snatched the paper and threw it to the ground, "Stop it! If you're mean to her, she'll do horrible things to you!"

"Bring it on Author!" Wave screamed, getting electrocuted in the process.

Tails gave Wave an 'I told you so' look before rolling his eyes and striding out towards whatever fate awaits them, "You know it says here that she removed Michael Myers because there's not that much plot in the Halloween story, it's all kill. kill. kill. kill. blah blah blah."

"Well then… where are we?"

Tails blinked and they were inside another lavish room, "Aw, son-of-a-bitch! She did it again!"

"Well then maybe you should stop breaking the fourth wall! She might start being nicer to us then!" Wave snarled.

"You're not exactly helping in the fourth wall argument by _mentioning _the fourth wall!"

"Well you're not helping the situation by continuously _arguing _about the forth wall."

"This is why people don't like you! They just think you're hot and leave it at that!"

"They think I'm hot?" Wave asked curiously and Tails flushed.

"Did I say hot? I meant EGOTISTICAL! They sound the same, see?"

"No they don't!"

There was a thump from upstairs and Tails started whimpering again, "Someone better not be having coitus up there!"

"Where the hell did you get that word?" Tails asked nervously.

"Sheldon, The Big Bang Theory."

"You've been watching too much of-"

They stopped fighting for a bit when they heard a thump and a tangle of disjointed limbs slid down the stairs like a jelly worm, moaning like someone had stolen the last piece of cake.

"This isn't scary at all! It's just Elise! She's let herself go because Sonic won't call her back and she's been depressed without him," Tails sighed, walking out the front door.

"Dude, how do you even know that? The flames of Iblis wiped everything out."

"How do _you _know that?"

"You're breaking the fourth wall again."

"Do you think that if we close our eyes and pinch ourselves we'll wake up?"

Wave scoffed, "Nah, you gotta tap your heels three times and say 'There's no place like home'."

He rolled them again and closed his eyes only to be shoved into a World War II esque dominion, when an AK47 was shoved into his hands. He looked before him to see five soldiers.

"Cream, Sergeant Prower!" she said, saluting him, "Resident damsel in distress in need of saving!"

"Rouge! Slut class! Here to sleep with any guy possible before my untimely death."

"Knuckles! Badass and jerk! I'm here to be a prick until the last scene where I nobly give up the role and die for someone else's' sake."

"Storm! Knuckles' lackey!"

"And Wave! The smart chick that gets the main guy, and quite possibly survives in the end."

What were these basic components for? A _zombie movie of course! _The best kind. Unfortunately, there would be no vegetarian zombies like poor Bud, for hours the main characters fought and fought until they were battle worn and were running out of ammunition. Knuckles had died saving Cream and Rogue, Wave was forced to double tap him before he could rise as the living dead. Constantly they had to kill people that they recognised, but he found some sick sadistic glee in shooting of Chris Thordyke's head.

Wave and Tails were forced to back into a corner, the zombie's were overwhelming him and he had three shells left. Just as the zombie's were going to advance on them, Tails Doll swept out of one of the zombie portals and started zooming for them like an axe. He was going to get turned into a zombie, whether Tails doll got to him or not.

"Got any nukes?" Wave asked.

"Nope, I used the last one in round 32."

"Bullets?"

"Under five."

"Juggernauts?"

"Finished last round."

"Well… that's a shame."

"What? That's all I get? Not even a 'Tails, you were a great partner' or a 'It was nice knowing y-'" he was abruptly cut of as Wave gripped his cheek and pressed her lips to his in a brief, heart stopping kiss.

When they finally separated the zombie's were closer and Tails was a little dazed, "So much for avoiding all the horror movie cliché's."

"This is nothing but cheap laughs anyway."

Tails looked down at his chest and found the rounds of chocolate bars, he shrugged and ate bit into one.

In a three second flash lightning blinding Wave for a bit. When her eyes readjusted to the light all the zombie's lay dead and Tails doll lie strewn across the floor in cotton pieces.

"You…" Wave stared in shock at the sight of the bloody main character, "All you had to do… was eat… the chocolate?"

Tails smiled and shrugged, the red gem was still in his hands. And then, the remains of Tails Dolls head shot up from the ground to, looking like it was about to devour him when-

"Tails?"

He was shaken awake to find himself in his bed, but he ducked under his cover to notice there were blood stains all over the bed.

Wave looked at him curiously and laughed, pointing to a copy of the script.

**TAILS **dies.

She flipped the page over to point at the one word on the last page.

Jokes!

"Well… thank god it was all a nightmare…" he sighed relaxing back onto the bed when he froze.

Dancing.

In the corner…

Was Eggman.

And he was shirtless.

"MY LIFE HAS NO MEANING!"

* * *

><p><strong>xx.d; <strong>Righty-o. Still not looking for critique. If you guys want one last serious chapter before I dedicate myself solely to _Anthem of Our Dying Day_ I can write one, I can finish the story off with that. And remember, it might not even be the end, it'll just be on HIATUS (but it'll be on complete). If you guys don't want the serious chapter than thanks so much to all of you who've stuck with me since the beginning and all of those that have joined halfway through and laughed at their antics, and cried with their tragedies, learned and prospered and tried to figure out the constant time jumps. I love you all and hope to see you transfer to _AoODD _OR spread the word of Wave/Tails pairing!

I hope you **Enjoi**ed yourself!


	52. new

**xx.d; **Sorry. This should have been out a long time ago, but I couldn't think of anything to write, 'specially with all the hype about _Anthem of Our Dying Day_. Some people requested to end this story on a somewhat serious note.

Thanks to everyone that reviewed the last chapter! (Author got lazy.) The inspirational music is _Rocketeer_ by Far East Movement.

**Enjoi.**

* * *

><p><strong>It's a Technician Thing<strong>  
><em>New<br>_F i n a l _é_

"Someone's broken into the shrine."

Tails wasn't a particularly religious person, but 'shrine' meant a lot of things in his world. In this case it just happened to be Gigan Rocks, meaning that there was a high possibility whatever Eggman had disrupted was going to piss of some ancient civilisation or give way to some stupid curse that would turn Sonic into a were-hog at night.

"And what is Eggman after this time?"

Wave strode in, wearing black fingerless gloves on top of her regular attire. This was worrying; it probably meant that they were in for one hell of a ride. Tails had just slipped on a pair of jeans. He was lacing up his sneakers when she came in and tapped a small bottle she had given him three years ago; one that was meant to bring Cosmo's flower back from the dead.

"Looks like Eggman has interested himself in the fabled Babylon secrets of a necromancer," the swallow declared.

"Well then, what are we waiting here for? We've got to go find him and stop him right?" the now fifteen year old declared picking up an oil stained shirt from the floor. Wave was hesitant though. She had come in with a sense of urgency, but now she was leaning against his doorframe, amused, "What?"

She grinned as he pulled his t-shirt over his head, smoothing over his bangs, "You haven't noticed? This isn't exactly how all of our previous adventures began. Entrances are action packed, involving combat. Explosions. Snarky dialogue. Failure on your team's part."

He rolled his eyes, standing so that he was now eye-level with her. She reached forward and ran a hand down his arm flirtatiously, "How is this any different from the moment we met?"

She scoffed playfully, blue eyes twinkling with mischief, looping her arms around his neck, "Lesse; you're not so hopeless at Extreme Gear any more."

"I wasn't hopeless in the _first place._"

"Our teams don't fight anymore."

"_Your_ team always started the fights."

"And we can't forget how drop-dead-gorgeous you are now," she smirked, running the back of her knuckles against Tails' cheek, loving the way his cheeks coloured at the embarrassing compliment.

"Hush," he laughed, touching his forehead to hers gently.

"Oh, and then there's this…" she leant forward quickly, brushing her lips against his softly and smoothly, igniting sparks in his veins at the way she tugged at the front of his shirt to bring him closer, fingertips running through the fur at the back of his neck.

He came away from their kiss as he always did. Dazed. Happy. Amazed. Ecetera.

"Yeah… there's always that."

"Hurry up, Kitty, we've got a madman to stop."

She made him feel excited, like everything he tried with her was something _new._ But she stuck to the fragments of the past to make him feel familiar and warm.

"You're never going to stop calling me that, are you?"

"You're always going to be younger than me Tails. I can't wait for the day when you accept that," she laughed, detaching herself from him with a small peck to his cheek.

He watched her flounce off and grab his Gear with an immense amount of pride, pouncing and slinging her around the hips, placing three chaste kisses to the back of her neck. She burst into a fit of giggles and brought his head around to give him a longer, more passionate kiss.

Now that he _was_ reflecting on the past he thought of how many times the amazing woman in front of her had changed him for the better. To think… they'd once been enemies.

Flight. Gear. Mechanics. Conflicting teams. Their worlds were linked by these similarities. Now… now they're connected by something far, far stronger than that. And not even his genius capabilities could explain it properly.

"We're not that different? Are we?" he asked.

"Your favourite song is still Jasey Rae."

"And you still like pepperoni pizza. Yeah… maybe it's just 'us'."

"'Us'?"

"Yeah… us."

She smiled, taking a moment to smooth over his bangs, an affection gesture he was rapidly getting used to.

"You're cute, Tails. Don't ever change. Now… let's fly."

* * *

><p><strong>xx.d;<strong> It's a little fragmented, but rounding off the story was proving more difficult than I thought. I can't believe how horrible I am at writing romance now. I'm more accustomed to writing violence.

Well, that wraps up _It's a Technicia__n Thing_... for now.


End file.
